Combustible
by beckasaurusrex
Summary: And I can't wait to finally explode...
1. let me count the stars in your eyes

**Well here's something new I'm working on with a friend of mine. We're writing it for two reasons: One, because we love _Suite Life On Deck_ and don't know what else to write about. And two: both of us are _highly_ dissatisfied with the way Zack basically just... _Fell in love_ with Maya. This is not the Zack Martin way, seeing as how he is a player and he wouldn't welcome love so easily.**

**And thus, this was born. Out of boredum and a mutual dislike of Maya. Okay. This one's a keeper.**

**Oh, and if you want to be updated quicker, see what the character looks like/her outfits, go here: www . lovethymadness . tumblr . com **

* * *

She looks at the time on her pretty phone, trying not to hyperventilate. Just because she's never done anything so _reckless_ before doesn't mean she can freak out.

Right?

She stumbles and trips over her own two feet as she boards the big boat, wanting nothing more than to check in and be given her dorm and make sure that her parents won't find her until it's already too late.

"Hello, Miss. I assume you're a student? My name is Mr. Moseby. And you are?" A bald, rather short ('_Oh, please. He's an elf_.' she thinks) African American man asks her calmly, though cheerfully, and she gives him a mega-watt smile, exposing her pretty dimples.

"Geni Tate. I'm your newest senior." She says smoothly in her light Australian accent, eyes alight in awe of this beautiful ship.

"Well, Ms. Tate, welcome aboard the S. S. Tipton. Would you like me to show you to your room?" The man asks her kindly, and she shakes her head, still smiling.

"You're busy, sir. Just tell me where it is, and I'll find it on my own." She says kindly, and he smiles at her in silent thanks.

He gives her the directions to the place where she'll be living for the rest of her senior year of high school, and she thanks him.

"You're welcome, Ms. Tate. I hope everything is to your liking." He tells her, and she nods.

"Please, Mr. Moseby, call me 'Geni'. 'Ms. Tate' is my sister." She tells him, waving a flippant hand as though to say her sister was far too long ago removed from her life to hold any meaning whatsoever anymore.

At least, that's what she wants to say.

"Alright, Geni. I look forward to sailing with you." Moseby tells her with a kind smile, which she graciously returns.

"As do I, Mr. Moseby." She says with a wave goodbye, clutching her things as she embarks to her cabin.

She looks up at the sky, the sun's warmth making her feel more whole than she has in a while.

"Stupid Mom and Dad. It's their fault I'm even doing this in the first place." She mutters darkly, walking about the sky deck, not wanting to go to her cabin just yet. She's so entranced by the whole idea of living on a ship, of going to school on a ship, that she doesn't pay attention to anything but the glorious feeling of freedom surging through her veins.

That is, until she crashes into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetheart! I wasn't paying any attention!" She exclaims, helping the boy pick up the empty smoothie cups, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"It's fine, beautiful. Don't worry. They were empty, anyway." He chuckles to her, flipping his hair from his eyes.

"Still, I feel like I should repay you somehow." She says, and he smirks.

So many dirty thoughts just popping into his head.

But then he mentally hits himself because _hello_, he has a girlfriend!

"Hey, sweetheart, want to know your horoscope? You're a Taurus, right? You look like a Taurus. Please tell me you're a Taurus so I don't look like an ass for guessing." She says, and he looks at her funny.

"Yea, beautiful. I'm Taurus." He replies, making her smile.

Whoa, he thinks, she's really pretty. Like, _really_ pretty.

Stunning sapphire eyes and silky chestnut hair and the cutest dimples and pouty lips and delicate curves and legs that go on for absolute _days_.

"And there you have it, sweetheart." She finishes, and he's launched from his (dirty) thoughts to look at her again. She's got this hopeful look on her pretty face, like she wants him to say something.

Too bad he didn't hear a _word_ she said.

"Thanks, beautiful. That was… Informative." He says silkily, making her smile at him. God, her smile is lovely.

Zack scowls on the inside. He did not just think _lovely_. This girl is turning him into Cody. Oh God, why? Why must you allow him to taint his thoughts with Cody's manner of speaking? Is it karmic retribution for the dirty thoughts? Since when does he even believe in karma? Oh God, now he's _rambling internally_, the world must be about to end and oh great, he's still a juice monkey.

"Good. So, I guess I'll see you around?" She says with a smile, leaving the blond boy with nothing more than a wink and a wave.

Leaving him completely awestruck.

"Hey, Zack! Wow, you're working already?" His girlfriend, that wonderful girlfriend of his, makes him jump as she wraps her arms around him and gives him a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Hey, Maya. I gotta work, you know that. At this point, it keeps me pretty sane." He tells his pretty (though not as pretty as the girl he just met – not by a long shot) girlfriend, who just smiles and rolls her eyes, calling him odd.

So he kisses her and smiles, not rebuking only because she is Maya and she is his girlfriend.

.0

"Ohmygod, it's so nice out." She looks out her porthole, damning the student curfew to the deepest pits of Tartarus, as the stars twinkle and the moon shines unbelievably bright in its fullness.

'Screw the damn curfew.' she thinks, sneaking out past her sleeping roommate, unable to sleep herself. She's far too excited about living on a boat and being away from her family and just _being herself_.

Adrenaline courses through her as she creeps onto the sky deck, sketchbook and colored pencils in hand. She's been dying all day to draw the sky deck and its beauty, but it was always so full.

She stops, though, when she sees a boy leaning on the railing. His sandy hair is blowing in the light breeze, his shirt fluttering about. The full moon is illuminating his fair skin, his eyes emerald eyes containing a faraway look, making him look practically ethereal.

Her eyes widen when she realizes it's the smoothie boy she had met earlier today. That cute, charming boy with the adorable twin brother who was dating that stunningly sweet farmer girl.

She sits; quiet as ever, on the ground. Taking her pencil from behind her ear and opening to a blank page in her sketchbook, she begins to draw him and his nearly sentient beauty.

Her eyebrows are scrunched together and her tongue is poking from her lips in concentration as she attempts to draw those freckles that are splashed across the bridge of his nose she had noticed earlier, that the moon brings out now. It's driving her mad, though, to get the pattern just right.

She's always hated drawing freckles.

"Hey, there, beautiful."

She jumps, falling backwards, a yelp escaping her lips as she looks up, realizing she got caught.

"Sorry. I just… You looked so _ethereal_, sweetheart. I couldn't _not_ try and draw you. I'm sorry." She says bashfully, holding the sketchbook to her chest, biting her lip and blushing.

"Well do you mind if I see it?" He asks, holding his hand out, and she shakes her head furiously.

No, sweetheart! Not even a peek!

"It's not done, baby. It looks awful." she objects, looking away from him and his gorgeous eyes, his charming smile, his sweet demeanor.

"Oh, c'mon, pretty thing. It can't be bad if someone as lovely as you drew it." He charms her, so easily, and she gives in. She blushes, handing him the sketchbook.

"But it isn't done. Don't judge, okay?" She tells him, and he chuckles as he flips to the page of his picture, expecting the worst if she's so against him seeing it.

He's wrong. So, so wrong.

It's a semi-colored sketch of him, leaning on the ship's railing. His shirt is ruffling, his hair in disarray (he fixes it, subconsciously, upon seeing the picture) His legs are bent at the knees, one ankle over the other. He's biting his lip, hands locked under his chin, this glossy, faraway look in his eyes.

It looks so _real_.

"This is really nice, beautiful. Do you take art classes?" he asks her, and she shakes her head, moving to get up.

He takes her hand, helping her, and she smiles at him thankfully. When their hands touch, she almost gasps.

Such _sparks_.

"I'm naturally talented. I took art classes for a couple months, but they were all about how to draw God and all this other bullshit. I'm eclectic, so it didn't feel right to just be tied down with learning to draw from one religion. I paint, too. But in drawing, you can fix it if you mess up, so I like that. The thing with painting, though, is you can rework an entire image to fit around your mistakes instead of starting over." She says dreamily, and he looks at her with a blank expression.

"Sorry, pretty thing, but I'm more into sports. I haven't really got any artistic talent." He says, making her laugh.

"You should broaden your horizons, then, honey. Colleges eat up that kind of crap." She says bluntly, and then bites her lip. She looks at him hopefully, and then shakes the ludicrous idea from her head.

It'd never work.

"Alright then, lovely. So, do you play any sports, or are you being hypocritical?" He asks her, making her shake her head as she laughs at his inability to sugar coat.

"I play on the diamond a little and some round ball here and there. But I love to surf." She replies, getting a dreamy feeling as she recalls all the surfing she did back home, before she moved and long before enrolling on this boat.

"That's pretty interesting. How about this, beautiful – I got a proposition for ya." He says, and she cocks an eyebrow, looking intrigued.

"Yea, sweetheart?" She says, tucking her hair behind her ears, leaning on the railing of the boat with one arm, looking at him and how he's so calm, so confident, and she can't help but admire it to no end.

"You teach me to draw, and I'll make you a basketball pro." He offers, and she bites her lip in thought of the idea.

She gets to spend a lot of time with him. Of course she knows the answer.

"I'll say yes to that. You'll thank me for it later." She smirks, shaking his hand, nearly jumping when their skin makes contact again.

There're those sparks.

"Alright. So, sweetheart," He grins at her look of shock when he steals her term of endearment, "Care to tell me why you're enrolled on a boat?" He asks, and she sighs as they lean on the railing and look out into the water.

"I just needed to get away. Mom and Dad, they just… I couldn't deal with it anymore. They actually don't even know I'm on the boat right now." She whispers, her sketchbook and pencils forgotten on a lawn chair, the wind making her hair cascade around her face and he wants to push it back.

But he remembers his girlfriend and the urge goes away.

Almost.

"You ran away to go to school? That's… Well, I've never heard that one before." He says, and she laughs almost bitterly.

"Trust me, you would too. They're… They're basically impossible." She says softly, looking at the moon's reflection on the inky ocean, tying her hair back into a messy pony tail.

"Ha, I know about impossible. Try living with an uptight, goody-two-shoes nerd for seventeen years, now _that's_ impossible." He says, adding, "But I love him, ya know? He's… Really, he's all I have left." His eyes are sad and show this emotion she can't place (regret? Maybe some nostalgia, she doesn't know) as he sighs.

"At least you have someone. Look, handsome, I'm gonna head back before we get busted for being out after that stupid curfew." She says, turning around and grabbing her things.

"Hey, baby?" He calls just as she's about to leave him alone, and she stops.

"Yea, darling?" She asks him, not facing him.

"Promise I'll see you around?" He asks hopefully, and she giggles.

"It's a boat. Where am I gonna hide?" She asks, slinking into the shadows of the ship before he can respond.

He's left awestruck, yet again.

.0

He groans as he enters the ship's classroom, going to take his usual seat, the seat he all but carved his name into, when he stops.

That pretty girl he met yesterday, the sweet thing who drew his picture yesterday, is sitting in his seat.

"Hey, there, beautiful. I think you're sitting in my seat." He grins charmingly, glad to talk to her, and she raises her eyebrows, pursing her lips innocently.

"Really? Where's your name, sweetheart? Because I don't see it on here." She replies, smirking, and he has no response for her. She doesn't even _know_ his name.

"Alright, beautiful. Take my seat, fine. It's not like I haven't been sitting in that seat for the past three years of high school." He says overdramatically, hanging his head in false grief, causing her to giggle.

"You're pretty odd, sweetheart. It's only a seat, after all." She says, and he sighs, taking the seat directly behind her. Not that he's complaining, because he doesn't exactly mind the view.

"But you don't understand, beautiful. I've been sitting there for a long time. It's weird to sit anywhere else. I'm emotionally attached to it. It's been there for me for so much. It's always there for me to sit on when I nap or throw spitballs at my brother. " He says, and she laughs.

"Well get used to it, then, sweetheart. Because I'm not moving from this seat. It's way too comfortable." She tells him, and he grins.

Cheeky, beautiful. Very cheeky.

"Good morning everyone! Or should I say everyone plus one," The teacher chuckles lamely at her own joke, "I see we have a newly enrolled student in the class. Come on up and introduce yourself. By the way, I'm Ms. Tutweiler." The teacher chirps with a smile as the teenager goes up to the front of the class, lip in her teeth.

"I'm Geni Tate. I was born in Sydney, Australia, and moved to San Francisco when I was fifteen. I love art and adore the Red Sox. My parents think I'm crazy and that I'm the biggest flower child they've ever seen. So, peace and love to you all," She phrases the end as a question, then adds hastily, "But I promise I don't do drugs," Which causes everyone to laugh.

'_Huh. Geni. What a pretty name_.' He thinks to himself as he watches the sensual sway of her hips when she walks back to her (_his_) seat.

"Nice name, beautiful." He whispers, catching that blush on her teeth. It makes him smirk to know he's getting to her, no matter how much he loves his girlfriend.

"Thanks. Plan on telling me yours?" She asks him, leaning back to hear him better, and her voice barely above a whisper so the teacher doesn't catch her talking.

"You'll learn it soon enough." He says, still smirking, leaning back in his own seat while locking his hands behind his head like, '_Yea, I'm cool. Deal._'

He won't admit it, not even to himself, but he wants to impress this gorgeous Aussie girl that sits in front of him


	2. paint the rose red just for her

And learn his name she does.

"Zack, huh? I pegged you as more of a Dylan." She says, giggling to him as the bell that signals them to a lunch break rings. She's walking with him, when she hears a choked sob coming from the classroom.

Tuttweiler.

"One second, sweetheart. I'll catch up. I gotta get something." She tells him, walking back into the classroom to find the teacher crying hysterically.

Oh, poor lady.

"Excuse me, Ms. Tuttweiler? I couldn't help notice how you're _crying_. Uh, may I ask what's wrong?" She asks gently, startling the crying redhead.

"Oh my goodness! Geni, please don't sneak up on me like that! And it's nothing. I just… Men." The teacher sniffles, and Geni bites her lip nervously, wondering what to do and say.

"Well, I understand if you don't want to talk about it. Your love life is your business. I haven't got any right to just drop in on it. Sorry." She says, and the teacher shakes her head.

"It's fine, it's fine. You're actually the first person who's cared enough to ask why in the longest time. At this point, people just _know_." She sighs, and the young girl grimaces.

"Happens that often, does it? Well have you ever thought about taking a break from _looking_ for love? Instead of going after the guy, wait for him to come after you. Now, I'm not saying you _have_ to do that. Just some food for thought. Speaking of food, I'm sorry, Ms. Tuttweiler, but I've got some previous engagements that I'm late for." She says, leaving the brokenhearted teacher to her thoughts.

Only to see that her previous engagements had his own previous engagement.

A girlfriend.

"H-hey, Zack," She has to be careful to not call him anything else, not around his girlfriend, "Who is this pretty little thing?" She asks, seeing the brunette sitting on his lap.

"This, Geni," He's careful, too, because of his beloved girlfriend, "Is my girlfriend Maya. Didn't I tell you she was Australian? And you didn't believe me." He teases the girl on his lap, nuzzling her neck, making her giggle and shriek.

Geni clenches her hands into fists, taking a deep breath, trying to keep that ache away. Because she wasn't here first. She hasn't got a chance. Of course not.

"Sorry, Zack. It's nice to meet you, Geni. Zack tells me you're quite the artist." Maya beams, and Geni forces a tight smile.

Why, sweetheart?

"Well, I don't like to brag, but yea, I'm alright. I could show you, if you like." She says to the girlfriend, always so kind and sweet, taking her sketchbook from her bag.

"Oh, it's positively gorgeous! You've _got_ to teach me to draw like this!" The girlfriend gushes, and Geni almost rolls her eyes.

No, girlfriend, just no.

She snatches the book from the girlfriend, practically ripping it, before she can get to the picture she drew last night.

The picture of her boyfriend.

"The rest aren't finished. They're horrible." She says, putting it back into her bag, her heart beating rapidly. Good God, what if the girlfriend had seen it?

Some shit would be going down.

She sighs, walking to the vending machine, getting a bag of chips and walking back to the couple. She stops, however, when she sees them sharing a sweet and loving and adoring kiss like the ones you see in romantic movies.

Oh, God. She won't be eating lunch today.

She throws the unopened bag into the garbage, going back into the empty classroom. Sitting in her seat, she sighs and continues to shade and color the picture from last night.

"Sweetheart, you're positively handsome. How you aren't modeling or something, I will never know." She murmurs, shading his eyelashes against his cheeks, mesmerized at her ability to catch that faraway look his eyes had. The look she fell so hard for.

Her mind is lost in the detail, each thought focused on what colors he was wearing, how dark or light something should be, entirely and completely set on perfection.

And, as a result, she is startled and yelps, her green (for his dazzling eyes) breaking, when she gets tapped on the shoulder.

"Sorry, beautiful. Didn't mean to scare you. But class is starting again." He tells her gently, kindly, sweetly.

"Thanks, sweetheart. So, where's your lovely girlfriend?" She asks, putting away her things, pushing her hair from her face.

"She's not a student here. She's actually supposed to be starting Columbia in a couple weeks on some early enrollment program she got in to." He replies, and she nods in thought, lips pursed.

Wonderful. The girlfriend isn't always here. Perfect.

"Sweetheart, could I ask you how that works? You must really love her to be able to control yourself with her so far away from you. Do you ever miss her, loving her that much?" She points out, the words daring to leave her mouth and making her heart ache.

"We manage. She's not untrustworthy, so it's not that big a deal. I miss her a lot, but it's worth it when I do get to see her, ya know?" He responds, but she cannot say anything because the class has resumed.

And the teacher? Well, one couldn't even tell she was crying.

Not that anyone would ask, anyway.

.0

"Sweetheart, hey, would you be so kind as to model for me some time?" She asks him as they leave, dismissed for the day, making him stop.

"Sure, beautiful. I'd positively love to." He replies, smiling, waiting for her to smile back. He loves her smile, he really does. It's dazzling and bright and real.

"Thanks, sweetheart. You're really good for that. You've got this look, makes you perfect for drawing. I don't know how to explain it." She tells him, making his heart flutter and float unlike anything he's ever felt.

It makes him nervous.

"Well thank you, beautiful. That means a lot." He says, grinning flirtatiously. He may have a girlfriend whom he loves so much (a fact he seems to continuously need to remind his self about when he's around Geni) but he's still going to flirt. It's just meaningless.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Hey, do you think it would be entirely possible for me and you to have dinner together tonight? I mean, to work on when you can model for me, and since you're the only person I know on this boat…" She trails off, biting her lip, and he chuckles.

"Of course, beautiful. How about you, me, and Maya have dinner tonight? Meet us in the Coral Café at, say, eight?" He asks, trying so hard to wish he didn't have to bring that girlfriend of his. That he didn't have to make the beautiful girl before him feel like a third wheel.

But Maya is his girlfriend. His wonderful girlfriend. The only one for him. (Right?)

"That sounds good, sweetheart. That sounds good." She says softly, voice distant, as though she didn't really her him.

"Sorry to cut this conversation short, beautiful, but I have to go to work now. See you at eight?" He phrases it as a question, wondering if maybe she'll cancel and make him feel less guilty.

But a part of him doesn't want her to.

He shoes that part away, wanting to be good. For Maya. Always Maya. Only Maya.

"See you at eight, sweetheart." She whispers with a soft smile, leaving him alone.

Of course she didn't cancel.

.0

Her breathing stops as she spots him there, standing all cutesy and kind of well dressed, checking his watch and looking at the entrance.

Looking for her.

"Hey, Zack," Careful of the girlfriend, "Whoa, this place is really nice." She sits in front of him, smiling, and he smiles back.

Her smile dims, though, when she seem them holding hands. How could she not, when their hands are right there, on top of the table, in plain sight?

"I know, right? And it's perfectly affordable. Which is good because judging from my paycheck, smoothie-making is a highly underappreciated art. " He replies, his girlfriend squeezing his hand and giggling at his joke, making the blue eyed girl want to run for Beverly Hills and disappear in a sea of orange people.

"So, Geni, tell us about yourself." The girlfriend is blunt, but sweet enough that Geni's urge to vomit goes away quickly.

"Well, obviously, I'm Australian. I learned how to surf when I was eight, having grown up in Sydney. My folks are hardcore Christians, so my morals are pretty straight. Only, I don't like being Christian. I prefer to be eclectic, letting myself piece together what I think based on everything other people think." She pauses, taking a breath, wondering what else to say.

"I'm a vegetarian, a pacifist, a feminist, and am very big on animal rights. I hate superficiality, prejudice, and racism. I can't understand the necessity for people to believe in any of that. We're all the same – we all need to be loved." She breathes, and the brown eyes of the girlfriend become steady with agreement.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Racism is disgusting. It's like, why?" The girlfriend says, making the Australian's eyebrows raise.

Okay, girlfriend. You might not be so bad.

"But at the same time, you have to," Her voice dies, nothing being registered after that by Geni's ears.

Nope. Never mind, girlfriend.

He must've noticed the slightly angered look in her eyes, because he gently, gingerly, brushes his fingertips against her wrist (under the table, of course, because his girlfriend is right there) in a silent gesture of telling her to calm down.

"So, what else do you want to know?" She says, looking directly at him and not even sparing his girlfriend a glance. He kind of looks at her like, '_Please be good, beautiful. I'm sorry I had to bring her, but she's my girlfriend._'

And she's so sorry about her being a little rude, sweetheart, but the girlfriend is pretty much asking her to get up and leave them alone.

"Do you ever miss Sydney? What was it like?" He asks, and she nods vigorously, smiling. Finally, someone asks her about the pretty place she grew up in.

"Oh, God, it was wonderful. I miss it so much, because it was my home. I grew up there, loitered around the opera house with my friends while we watched cute theatre guys, learned to surf there… It was basically the only place I knew. California is nice, but I hate the earthquakes. I mean, the beach is wonderful, it really is. But there's too much… Too much grunge. I can't really explain." She sighs dreamily, wishing she could go to her old garden and maybe go back to the opera house and see if any of those cute theatre guys are still there.

Probably not.

"And my Australian heritage is a reason I enrolled at the school. You get to travel the world, get an education, and spend all day in the water. I love it. The fact that I had to sneak out makes it all the more exciting." She smirks when the girlfriend's sparkly brown eyes go all wide and scared like if she just told her she's battled fierce pirates and taken on fire breathing dragons like the ones in her paintings and story books.

"Your parents don't know you're on this boat?" She asks in shock, and the other girl shakes her head.

"They think I'm at some stupid private school. They're so wrong. And when they find out, they're going to flip." She sighs airily, her legs crossing as she wishes he'd touch her again. She wants to feel that electricity from before, that spark.

"Whoa. Not even I would do something so insane." He says, giving her a look of praise.

"Thanks?" She asks with a laugh, fixing her hat, staring at his sparkly eyes.

"You're welcome." He replies, brushing his fingertips against her knee softly, her entire leg getting goose bumps as electricity zips through her veins.

"So, pretty thing, tell me how long you've been dating this one." She juts her thumb at him, looking directly at his girlfriend, smiling because of the electricity humming in her body from his touch, her fingers linked under her chin.

"It'll be six months on the thirtieth." The girlfriend replies, smiling at him and kissing his cheek.

"Well then, you must love him a whole lot. And have lots of patience." She says, shooting him a smile to show she's only teasing.

Oh, sweetheart. It's only a joke. You're so wonderful.

"Yeah, I do." Girlfriend squeezes his hand (which is still on top of the table) and Geni's heart catches in her throat.

"Hey, Geni, is it true your older sister is Louise Tate, that famous surfer?" The mention of her sister, of course coming from the girlfriend, causes her heart to jump and her stomach to go up in knots and her hands to shake.

Her sister pisses her off to no end.

"Yeah, we are. But I… I haven't talked to her in a long time. We got distant since I moved to California with Mum and Dad and she stayed." She replies quietly, recalling all those nasty, bitchy things she said to her sister when she left to the airport with their parents.

Oh, God. It was awful.

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry, Geni. That must be awful." He gives her shoulder a reassuring, sympathetic squeeze, causing her skin to heat up and butterflies to eat her stomach alive.

"It's not your fault, Zack. Don't worry about it, Kay? It's not worth getting all those worry lines." She purrs, smiling and revisiting the urge to lean on his shoulder and let him hold her.

"Still, I'm sorry. I don't know what I'd do without Cody." He murmurs, looking right into her eyes, where she can see that faraway gaze, that regret and other thing that might be nostalgia.

"Well, he's your _twin_, so it's different. Lou is seven years older than me, so it's not like we're like this," She curls two fingers together to show the closeness, "Or anything, like you and Cody. So it's not a big deal. Besides, she's not exactly the sweetest candy in the shop." She sighs, and he smiles at her in reassurance, brushing her palm again. His girlfriend scoots closer to him, causing the Australian to curl her hands into fists.

Stupid brown eyed, sweet faced, pretty little girlfriend.

"Oh, hey, Maya, tell us about that early enrollment thing of yours." He says, the warm chocolate eyes of his girlfriend go wide and sparkly, like pretty little dark suns.

'_Ohmygod, sweetheart, do you hate me? Don't you know I love you?_' She thinks, full of heartbreak and annoyance as his girlfriend rambles on and on about her stupid school thing.

"That's super wondrous, Maya. I'm so happy for you." Purring and cooing, she realized years ago, make people think she was listening when in reality, she was lost in her painter's dreamland.

"Thanks, Geni. So, what do you plan on doing when you get out of here?" The girlfriend asks, making it sound like being on this boat is a bad thing.

"I'm going to be an art teacher at primary schools. I've always liked working with kids." She smiles brightly, and she almost squeaks when he places his cool hand onto her warm one, loosely interlacing their fingers.

And she swears her heart isn't even beating anymore – it's flying, she promises.

"I had no idea." He says to her, and she nods.

"Yeah, because you're the first people I've told. Mum and Dad would flip a shit if they knew. Mum wants me to like, be a stay-at-home wife and raise the kids to be Bible-thumpers just like them. They want me to marry a guy from church. A boy with all his morals set straight and his entire future planned down to every detail who believes only in God and all we're going to be very mundane.

"But here's my secret – I don't want that. I don't want mundane, Christian stupidity. I don't care about his religion and I don't care about his morals. I just want him to love me, love me hard, and love me right. I don't care if a guy has a stable future. Sure, that'd be okay, but it's not a big deal. I just want to be in love. Like you guys." And she's purring and cooing again, because she's sad (jealous, even) and when she muses, like she had just been doing, she tends to purr and coo and be soft and meek.

"O-oh. That's… That's sweet, Geni. And thank you, for wanting to be like us. We just want everyone to be as happy as we are." The girlfriend cuddles into him, breaking the final straw when she gives him a gentle kiss on the mouth.

"I have to use the bathroom." She whispers, getting up and leaving them to themselves, not even seeing the apology in his pretty green eyes.

She just wants to stop this hurt in her heart.

.0

"She's been in the bathroom for a while. Is she okay?" He asks his pretty girlfriend, biting his lip, worried.

Did he do something wrong? Did he hurt her? Did he really make her feel more awkward than he thought he was going to?

"It's been five minutes, Zack. She's fine, I'm sure. You worry too much." She giggles, squeezing his hand, brushing his bangs away from his forehead and kissing him softly.

If it weren't for the extra chair, that smell of flowers and ocean (that follows her everywhere) lingering at that table in the empty space, the third glass of soda on that table, you wouldn't even know there was a third person.

"You're right. It's just… I think she feels like a third wheel or something, being around us. I don't know." He breathes, and his girlfriend looks confused.

"She doesn't act like it. She seems pretty fine." She says, and the blond internally rolls his eyes.

Of course she doesn't show it, girlfriend. Most people wouldn't. It just isn't orthodox.

"Yeah, I know. But she's kind of tensed up, ya know? She doesn't look comfortable. Because of us." He sighs, getting up, putting his napkin on the table and smoothing out the bottom of his shirt.

"Where are you going?" His girlfriend asks him, confused and nervous and worried her beloved boyfriend has finally lost his mind. Granted, it was bound to happen since he's _Zack_ of all people.

"I'm going to make sure she's okay." He says, walking to the bathrooms, looking for that beautiful Australian girl with the adorable dimples and endless legs.

He bumps into her right outside the bathroom.

"Hey, beautiful. Are you feeling alright? I'm worried I'm making you uncomfortable." He tells her softly, fingers just barely wrapping around her wrist as she smiles at him gently.

"Yea, sweetheart," His heart jumps at the term, "I'm fine. You just worry too much. I'm not uncomfortable, I promise. Although, your girlfriend is making me feel… Violated? I don't know. But every time she looks at me, it's like she wants to tear my head open and pick through my brain. I don't know what it is, sweetheart, but it's freaking me out." She says to him, biting her lip, and he looks worried.

"Want me to talk to her, beautiful?" He asks, and she shakes her head furiously.

"Ohmygod, no! I don't want her to think I asked you to or anything! Darling, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm sure I'm just being paranoid." She brushes it off, smiling at him, and his heart continues to jump.

She's just so damn electric.

It's like every time he touches her, volts of energy spark through him. It's delicious.

"All's fair in love and war…" She trails off, making him look at her funny. What?

"Say what, beautiful? Who are you going to war with?" He asks her, chuckling. She giggles, making him smile, shaking her head.

"Now, sweetheart, why do you automatically go for violence? Maybe I'm in love with someone." She teases, and suddenly his heart is spiked through with a big green rod, his eyes burning.

Jealousy.

He shoves the emotion away, unable to comprehend it. Why would he be jealous of this pretty girl liking someone else when he has the most wonderful girlfriend? It just doesn't make sense.

He prefers to not dwell on things that don't make sense.

"Well then he's one lucky guy, beautiful, if you got your sights set on him." He tells her charmingly, making her blush.

"Thanks, sweetheart. Now, speaking of love, let's get back to that pretty girlfriend of yours. She's probably freaking out that you got lost on your way to the bathroom or something." She teases, and he makes a face at her. She brushes his hair from his eyes soothingly, pouting innocently, and he smiles at her that cute crooked smile he gives.

"You're probably right." He chuckles, and she laughs as they walk back to the table.

"Hey, guys. The food came…" Maya says when they sit, and he nods at her.

"So, lovers, I have a question." She tells them, and he instantly looks at her from over his seafood pasta. She grimaces at his food, twirling her fork into her salad.

"Shoot, Geni." His girlfriend tells the girl across from her, who nods.

"Kay: what do you two think of love?" She asks bluntly, and his girlfriend jumps up at this.

"I don't think it really… Exists. Like, I know you can love people. But there's no such thing as 'true love'. There's the person you love at the moment. And love doesn't just… _Happen_. You have to work hard for it. I also think fairy tales are complete bull. Love isn't frivolous and simple. It's something you have to earn." Maya says strongly, causing his heart to ache just a bit.

She doesn't believe in true love? She doesn't think they'll last, does she?

"Whoa. That's… That's incredible." She breathes, and he looks at her.

"Well what do you think of love?" His girlfriend snaps back a little harsher than she meant to. At least, he thinks so anyway, and the beautiful vegetarian bites her lip.

"I think love happens all the time. It exists in everything. I think, when you love someone, it's easy. The thing is, if you do love easily, you're going to find one person that you don't love like everyone else. You're going to find one person you love so much; they're your entire universe. They just swag into your world, and you don't want them to leave. Fairy tales are wonderful. They depict love in its most innocent forms. And love shouldn't be hard, or something you have to work for – you should just _love. _It should be easy to love someone, if you really do. Because if it isn't, it loving them is a job, then it's not really love." She replies, and he is awestruck.

That's utterly romantic.

"That's really… Whoa." His girlfriend breathes, squeezing his hand.

"Hey, Maya, if that's how you feel about love… What do you expect for us?" He asks her, and she winces. He can tell she didn't want to have to answer that.

"I don't know, Zack. I mean, I care about you. I really do. Why do we have to worry about it?" She asks him, dodging the question.

"Fine." He sighs, kissing her cheek gently. She smiles, brushing his hair back, but this time he isn't calmed down. This time, he's really upset.

Upset _with his girlfriend_.

The concept is so foreign to him, that he could be mad at her. Because he always thought he'd be the one to say something stupid and get her mad. He never thought, for one second, _she_ would say something dumb and _he'd_ be pouty and sulky and mad at her. He just never thought it would happen. She was always perfect to him; always so wonderful.

But now, just like that, he realizes that she isn't and they aren't and it could all come crumbling down if he isn't careful. Everything could be ruined, with the snap of his fingers. His pretty, wonderful, spectacular, beautiful girlfriend whom he fought so hard and waited so long for, wanted more than anything and was over the moon when he got her, could leave him just as quickly as she said yes to him.

And suddenly, as Geni's fingers brush against his palm as she laughs, at some story that's supposed to be embarrassing the crap out of him, he isn't even sure if he minds or not.


	3. violentdelight violentend initstriumph

"C'mon, beautiful. Why won't you just say it?" He begs, and she rolls her eyes.

"Because, sweetheart, it's ridiculous. Not all Aussies say that, ya know." She says insistently, crossing her arms, biting back her laugh.

He's positively hilarious.

"So? For me, beautiful, won't you just say it?" He continues, and she rolls her eyes again. Ohmygod, sweetheart, you're relentless.

"Why on Earth are you so obsessed with this, sweetheart? Have you got some sort of accent fetish I should tell your lover about?" She asks, teasing, and he blushes.

"No! That's gross!" He insists, making her laugh outright at him.

"Then why do you want me to say it?" She asks through her laughter, seeing how there's a smile tugging at his lips, and he shrugs at her.

"I grew up with my dorky brother, watching Steve Irwin stuff. So sue me and just _say it!_" He begs her, fluttering his pretty lashes, pouting his pink lips, giving her these _eyes_.

She almost says yes.

Almost.

"You're special, you know that?" She asks him sweetly, too sweetly to be serious, even though she isn't _that_ annoyed. Not really. He's too cute. But he's still being obnoxious. That seems to be normal for him.

"Hey! My kindergarten teacher told me the _exact_ same thing!" He smiles brightly, but she knows that he knows she was being sarcastic and snarky. He's not an idiot.

"Well guess what, darling? Don't anybody care." She sneers jokingly, and he pouts again, acting all sad and sulky even though she knows that he knows she's kidding.

"But… I thought…" He's sad and soft and looking so _vulnerable_ that she's kind of sorry. And she wants to say no to what he's asking her. She wants to, and she knows she should because she's so positive he's just being annoying.

But she can't do it.

"Crikey, mate!" She says with false enthusiasm, and he smiles brightly, pulling her into a hug.

Where he 'accidently' lets his hand travel too low and he cops a feel because he is Zack and, girlfriend or not, he can't resist it.

"You're the best, lovely. I mean it." He tells her, giving her a free raspberry smoothie because those are her favorites (though she won't tell him that _his_ are her favorite, only his, and the rest pale in comparison like Robert Pattinson standing next to Avan Jogia) and she takes it grudgingly, narrowing her eyes at him as she takes a sip.

Mm. This is wondrous.

"Hey, you're doing your book report? It isn't even due until next Friday." He says, seeing her typing on her beloved MacBook, and she shrugs.

"So? I like to get stuff out of the way for more free time. I could lend you a book if you want to do yours, too, sweetheart. It's no big deal. Especially because I doubt Ms. T will believe you read my book." She grins, showing him the book she's writing about.

"What is it?" He asks her, confused, cleaning up the counter slowly, to pass time and make himself feel busy, as she begins to talk.

"It's called _Wuthering Heights_. It's by Emily Bronte. It's wonderfully romantic and beautiful and full of angst and I just love it. If you want to, I'll lend it to you." She offers, and he shakes his head.

"It's fine, beautiful. I'm not into romance. Or reading. Or books. Or anything else that reminds me of my sister – I mean brother. Thanks, though, for the offer." He smiles, and then almost jumps out of his skin.

_Who is he, being kind about turning away a book of all things?_

"That's fine, sweetheart. To each their own, ya know? I'm so sure your brother read it, and that cute farm girl, too, too." She smiles softly, musing about the two smart kids.

"Probably. They're both really into romance." He says to her, grimacing, and she bites her lip, watching said farm girl read on the deck.

"And they're both single?" She murmurs to him, not wanting the two to hear, and he snorts.

"They were together. They broke up. And neither of them have the guts to admit they still love each other. It's a pride thing. And it's seriously annoying." He says, rolling his eyes, and she sighs at the information.

"That really sucks." She breathes, and he nods in agreement, making a smoothie because he can't stand not moving.

"You're telling me, beautiful. Watching them dance around their feelings, white it _is_ slightly amusing, is starting to get on my nerves. It's like waiting for a time bomb to blow up, because you know it's going to happen eventually." He muses, and she watches the towel boy and farm girl, so close and yet so far from each other.

She wants to scream.

"He looks… He looks so _pale_ compared to you and your '_I'm so in love with a girl_´ glow. And she looks ready to implode, like if she's so _empty_. I don't like it. Professor and Bumpkin need to get together ASAP. For their health and happiness." She says with finality and determination.

"Who?" He asks, beyond confused, and his face is so adorable she just can't help the giggle that escapes her lips. Especially because it makes him smile softly at her, confused as he is.

"I give nicknames, sweetheart. Your brother is 'Professor', and that farm girl is 'Bumpkin'. The thing about her nickname is that sometimes it can be viewed as an insult. I don't _do_ insults. If I don't like you, I don't even talk about you." She explains to him, and he nods.

"And what's my nickname, beautiful? Or are we going to stick to these terms of endearment forever?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"I haven't thought of one for you yet. You, Woody, or London. Or your girlfriend for that matter." She tells him, biting her bottom lip, voice straining. It causes her _physical pain_ to have to address the pretty brunette that is not her as such, because she wishes it wasn't so.

And it kills her.

"I heard my name! What's going on here?" London makes a loud, wild entrance, crashing into the conversation, covered in so much sparkles and glitter, it would put Edward Cullen to shame. Her heels are clicking on the deck and she looks flashy and flamboyant, as always.

"Hey, London. We were just talking about how a nickname for you is mission impossible four." She jokes, and the heiress gives her this _look_.

"Who are you? Aren't you my new maid?" She looks the (offended) Australian over, grimacing as she adds, "We _definitely_ need to do something about those uniforms!"

"Excuse me! I'm _not_ your maid, lady! I'm a student! I know you're not that stupid! I got up and fricken introduced myself to the class! C'mon!" She is exasperated, annoyed, utterly shocked, and offended.

Is her skirt really _that_ ugly, that she is mistaken for a _maid_ of all things?

"Right! You're that new Australian girl! I'm Lon –"

"I know you. You're London Tipton. It's because of your Dad that I had to leave Sydney in the first place. Mum got fired and got a job working at the St. Mark in California. So tell your Dad I said thanks, for yanking me from my home." She's seething and angry and ohmygod, since when was she ever this mad at someone she didn't know?

"Okay!" The pretty girl says airily, skipping away, leaving the two younger ones in shock of her (pretend, though nobody really knows that [but Geni's picking up on it]) ditzy persona.

"How do you handle her? She's positively _insane._" She breathes, and he nods, cleaning the counter.

"She's always been that way. You get used to it." He replies, and she nods. Of course. Personalities like that aren't just _born_.

They have to be practiced pretty damn well.

The two sit in comfortable silence, her doing her work and him pretending to do his job but secretly texting someone (she wishes it wasn't his girlfriend but everything in her knows it is) occasionally pausing to serve the other customers that come by, tipping him every so often, some girls even daring to flirt. That part makes her feel sick, but she shakes it off a moment later.

She has no right to.

"Sweetheart, hey, still texting your girlfriend?" She asks him later, as he refills her raspberry smoothie, and he nods. His girlfriend left to her Columbia thing the other day, and they talk _every day_. It breaks her heart because ohmygod that girl is his world, his everything; and she can't stand it.

Why can't she be his world, his everything?

"I did. She says she loves it at Columbia. It's a dream, she says, to be learning there. And to be one of the youngest, too, she says, is amazing. She's so proud of herself, beautiful, so happy, that I can't help but be happy for her." He says, giving her the smoothie, and she sighs, smiling a fake smile.

"That's wondrous, sweetheart. And she's so lucky to have a lover like you that care so much." She tells him with forced enthusiasm, her smile tight and fake and _painful_.

"Thanks, beautiful. So, hey, you want to hang out tonight? Like, cuz it's Friday and we're gonna be bored and all that." He says to her, and she smiles (for real this time) and nods at him.

"Sure, sweetheart. That sounds like fun. I'll bring my sketchbook and stuff, so you can model for me, too." She says, and closes her MacBook, her report almost done, and he nods.

"Alright then, beautiful. I look forward to it. Bring a movie or two, if you like." He says, and she nods at him.

"Whoa, there, sweetheart. Do I need to call your lover and warn her about you making a move on me?" She teases, and he becomes flustered. Ohmygod, has she mentioned that he looks adorable like that?

Because he does.

"Of course not, beautiful! Why would you –"

"Sweetheart, I'm only teasing!" She laughs, and he sighs in relief, smiling.

"Not nice, beautiful. Not nice at all." He tells her, playfully, gently shoving her shoulder. A million volts of electricity shoot through her veins, her heart jumping, her body humming in delight at the feel of his cool hands on her warm skin.

"Oh, sorry, lover boy. It's not like I meant it." She waves a flippant hand, rolling her eyes, sipping her smoothie and spinning a little in her stool. She looks innocent and sweet, swinging her feet back and forth, eyes glancing between the working boy beside her and everyone else on the sky deck.

She loves it when they sit in this comfortable, wondrous silence. It shows that they don't need to talk to be around each other.

"Hey!"

That silence is, of course, shattered when Woody comes.

"Hey, Woody! How's it, mate?" She asks him sweetly, seeing the blush light up his face, giggling almost.

"Hey, Geni. I'm alright. And you?" He asks her kindly, ordering a smoothie from the handsome blond behind the counter, and the Australian shrugs.

"I'm good, I'm fine. Can't really complain." She replies, and the curly haired boy smiles at her, no longer nervous. She sits up straight, suddenly remembering something she's been meaning to ask this boy.

"Hey, Woody, how do you feel about me calling you Curly? Like the bald guy form _Three Stooges_?" She asks him, and he smiles brightly at her.

"That's so cool!" He says with enthusiasm, and she smiles proudly, offering her hand for a high five, which he greatly returns.

"Then there you have it. Curly, Professor, Bumpkin… I'm only missing Zack and London. But London, I could just call her Moneybags." She says without any emotion, obviously not caring too much about the heiress. Why should she, if the girl doesn't care about her, either?

She shouldn't.

"Take your time with that, beautiful." Said boy tells her, not wary of the other person in the slightest. Woody knows Zack, knows how much he loves Maya, and that Zack is flirtatious but wouldn't ever cheat.

"I plan on it, sweetheart." She purses her lips, continuing to sip her smoothie, swinging her feet again, and Woody suddenly feels uncomfortable.

Like he's invading their space or something.

"I'm gonna go…. Look for a sandwich." He says awkwardly, but they don't even hear him. They're far too busy communicating silently (like the perfect lovers, he notes, but shakes that away) about God knows what.

.0

"Thanks so much, Geni, for helping me out here." Ms. T says to her, smiling as Geni grades short stories with her.

"You're so welcome, Ms. T. Thank _you_ for signing off on my hours. And besides, this really lets me in on how the students think. This assignment, at least." She replies, reading Addison's rather… _Wordy_ paper about a chubby knight and how he saves his hyper princess from the ping-pong ball monster.

"I know. I love it." Ms. T smiles, reading Bailey's tale of cowboys and cowgirls and that one pretty rancher who has to sell everything she owns just to go to school and be free.

"Oh, my. Geni, I will give you three extra credit A's if you grade _this_ paper for Me." The teacher thrusts a story that has a photo of a woman's scantily clad body as its cover.

"Sure. I'm done with Addison's, anyhow." She murmurs, putting a pretty blue 'B' atop the title of the story. It was wondrous, albeit _long_, and didn't deserve the 'C' Ms. T wanted to give it.

"Ms. T, this is Zack's paper?" She asks, reading his name on the bottom of the title (_She Is Love,_ which is in an almost illegible font) and Ms. T nods.

"Who else would use that as a cover?" Scowling, the woman shakes her head and continues to read Woody's story.

"But it's title…" She mumbles, and shakes her head, reading it. She is awestruck.

It's about a woman, obviously, who is wild and free and electric. She loves all the time, loves everyone, and doesn't know how else to do it. But she's never had someone love her back. Her name is Angel.

It's about a boy who is broken. He loved only ever once, and it ended with her ditching him at the altar. He has given up on the emotion, and simply deduces that there is only lust. His name is Jonathan.

They meet at a coffee shop, and she spills his drink all over him by mistake and insists upon buying him a new one. He lets her, and they automatically hit it off. It's sweet and cliché, but not horribly so.

And then comes the story.

She falls for him automatically, his charm and 'roguish good looks' (according to the story) pulling her in and never letting go. She's head over heels in love, and she doesn't want to fix it.

But he's not so keen on loving her back.

And the heartache, the passion (because this is Zack and he _would_ write a semi-harlequin novel) and the realizations of him falling into love are so… _Real_ and _raw_ and _wonderful_. The happy ending, because there just had to be one, has tears lining her eyes.

"Oh, Ms. T, can I keep this? Please? This story is simply _amazing_!" She gushes to the teacher, who looks confused and awed at the sudden outburst and love for a paper that one of her _worst_ students wrote.

"S-sure. Uh, what grade would you give it?" She asks, and Geni jumps at the question, shocked. Like if to ask her if she's serious, could she not tell?

"A big fat a plus, Ms. T! It's so great!" She gushes again, and the teacher nods, writing 'A' atop the page. Geni smiles brightly, and the teacher nods.

"Well, we're done for the day, Geni. So if you want…" She trails off, and Geni's smile softens.

"Bye, Ms. T. Oh, and good luck with that new boo of yours. Don't think I didn't see the way your eyes lit up when you got that text message in class. I hope all goes well." She wishes the teacher luck, leaving before she can respond.

.0

"Sweetheart, how could you not tell me you wrote this?" She exclaims, barging into his cabin like if nothing.

And he's wearing nothing but a towel, steam rolling off his body as water drips onto the ground and ohmy_god_ she's caught him semi-naked.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She squeals, covering her eyes and closing the door.

"It's fine, beautiful. At least you didn't catch anything else!" He laughs, putting on boxers and sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"Is it safe to enter?" She asks meekly, knocking this time, and he chuckles at her. God, she's really cute. Maya wouldn't have even left. She would have just…

Oh, he doesn't want to go into that now.

"Yes, beautiful." He laughs softly, opening the door. She's standing there all blushing and flustered and embarrassed, looking positively adorable.

And wearing new clothes? When did she change? _Why_ did she change?

"Ohmygod, sweetheart, I'm so horribly sorry. I can't believe – I am so sorry I caught you all naked and whatever. I just… I had this _need_ to see you," Whoa. Dirty thoughts, much? "And talk to you about this story you wrote." His ego slightly deflates, but he shakes it off.

Girlfriend. He does believe in relationships. He does he does he does.

"Whoa. How did you…?" He trails off, motioning to the story, and she shrugs.

"Ms. T and I were grading them. And she told me to read yours. I fell in love with it. And Angel. And Jonathan. And just… _Everything_! You never told me you could write, sweetheart!" She gushes, causing his ego to inflate again, and he shrugs at her comment.

"You never asked, beautiful." He answers, and she laughs. He smiles at her, and she grins.

"Only you, sweetheart. Only ever you." She mumbles, and he grins right back. How could he resist, after all, when she has such cute dimples and her eyes are sparkly and she's just so _pretty?_

"You better believe it." He jokes, making her laugh again. Her laugh makes him feel lightheaded and fuzzy.

It worries him.

"So, sweetheart, what do you want to do?" She asks him after a moment or two of quiet, sitting on his bed and a plethora of dirty thoughts pop into his head _yet again_.

He shakes the images of him and Geni to infinity and beyond, forcing Maya into his head.

"I don't care. You're the guest, beautiful. What do _you_ want to do?" He asks her, to which she purses her lips in thought.

"Well, I could sketch you, if you don't mind. Or we could watch a movie. I heard _Casablanca _is on tonight. And I know how much you love that movie." She suggests, grinning slyly, and he blushes.

How did she know he loves that old movie?

She must've read his mind, because she giggles and explains, "Sweetheart, you aren't very subtle in your references. You did it in the story like, a million times." She's smirking, obviously from discovering his guilty pleasure so easily.

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" He asks, sighing, and she nods.

"I promise. But, you know, girls like a romantic guy. Just a tip." She points out, and he grins. Of course he knows this.

"Oh, I know they do. Maya sure does." He waggles his eyebrows at her suggestively, and she grimaces.

"Gross! I don't need to hear about your escapades, lover boy!" She gags, making him laugh.

She's adorable.

"Pfft. A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell, darling." He says to her defensively, meaning it. What happens between he and his girlfriend _stays_ between he and his girlfriend.

"Good. Let's keep it that way." She says, and he laughs.

"So, beautiful, you liked my story?" He asks her, smirking, and she nods vigorously.

"Yeah, I did! I'm definitely embellishing it, since we're friends and all, but it was heart wrenching. And the happy end was wonderful. I never thought you'd be so romantic, sweetheart." She says to him, and he is almost offended at the assumption.

But then he realizes the front he puts up and sighs.

"Me, neither, beautiful. It just sort of… Happened. I know, though, that I made lots of mistakes. Because Cody edited it for me and there were _so_ many red marks." He chuckles, recalling his brother's face when he handed him back the essay: surprised and annoyed – an amazing combination.

"And you didn't use these edits because…?" She's genuinely curious, and that's something he likes. She isn't insulting him or questioning his mental stability or anything of that nature.

She's just asking him why.

"Because they just weren't _me_. I know what I wanted it to sound like. The spelling corrections, now those I made. But it flows different because that's how I wanted it to sound. Offbeat and unconventional because that's how I wrote it." He explains to her, and he realizes these thoughts as he says them.

This wasn't a predestined thing for him. He, before now, had no idea why he wrote like that. And if anyone had asked before now, he wouldn't have had an answer. The fact that she got one, well; it's shocking him to say the least.

And worrying him to no end.

"A stream of consciousness novel. Like _Catcher in the Rye_." She smiles, and he is confused. He's never heard that before in his life.

"It's a novel, sweetheart. A good one, at that. I suggested it to Ms. T to be the class novel this semester." She explains after a moment of him looking at her like 'The fuck?' smiling at him and his confusion.

"Alright, beautiful. That sounds good. I hope she picks it, then." He says to her sweetly, charmingly, and she nods.

"Me, too." She breathes, putting her hair in a low pony tail, kicking off her flats and sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce on his bed. She holds her sketchbook on her lap, face holding concentration as she beings to draw his room.

He notices, blushing furiously from embarrassment. Ohmygod, why _his_ room?

"No, no, beautiful! Not his awful mess!" He whines, trying to grab the sketchbook from her, and she dodges with a laugh.

"Sweetheart, _someone_ needs to record this for future generations!" She teases, and he only blushes deeper, stumbling over words and tripping over his own mess in an attempt to grab the paper from her and throw it away.

"That's mean." He pouts, sulky and sad and embarrassed. Maybe she'll buy it. God, he hopes she'll buy it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Look, I'm throwing it away, baby. Is that better?" She asks him crumbling up the paper and throwing it into his garbage can. Her eyes are full of apology and she's biting her bottom lip nervously, looking so cute and sad and pretty.

"It's fine, pretty thing." He replies, and she pulls him close in a hug, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck.

He takes a deep breath, holding her tightly. She smells like fruity perfume and ocean and something else, something sharp and bitter and disgusting.

_Cigarette smoke_.

He recognizes it quickly, remembering that his Dad would smoke before concerts. '_To calm the nerves_,' he would say, exhaling the stuff suavely.

His pretty thing does that? She smokes those icky cancer sticks like if nothing? What's she got to be nervous about in the first place, to have made her start?

"Hey, sweetheart, are you okay?" She coos to him, soft and gentle and so _warm_, and he nods to her.

"Of course I am, beautiful. Now, when's _Casablanca_ on?" He asks her with a grin, to which she laughs softly.

"Right now, actually." She turns on his TV, and he smiles at her as she curls up on the floor, leaning against his bed, wrapping his blanket around her and looking at him expectantly, like '_C'mon. You don't expect me to just sit here alone like an idiot, do you?_' and he laughs, sitting with her, turning off the lights to see the movie better.

A part of him notices, during the movie, that he's never done this with Maya.

* * *

**A/N - And now, I'm all like "ASLKJFGLAKNVP" because this story got like, 100 something views&hits. And only one review. The fuck? Should I even keep posting it on here? It's like "SHIT MAN NOBODY IS TELLING ME IF IT'S GOOD OR NOT MAYBE I SHOULD STICK TO TUMBLR." **

**1. What do you think of Geni? Anything you'd add/remove to her and/or her character?  
2. Is there anything you want to see happen? **

**Review, kay? Because Romeo and Juliet is on my TV and I'm bracing myself to cry and a review or two would make me happy.**


	4. i need a little more thunderlightningyou

The sun shines through the porthole, causing the back of her eyelids to turn red. She whimpers and closes her eyes tighter, snuggling deeper into the blankets. She takes a deep breath, content filling her up, when she notices that it doesn't smell like her bed.

It smells like cologne and fruit and something like sweat mixed with bodywash.

Her blue eyes shoot open and she sees that she is, in fact, snuggled into his bare chest with his arms wrapped around her waist protectively, possessively, sweetly.

"Ohmygod…" She breathes, so afraid that they –

They didn't.

She exhales a sigh of relief, hands placed softly on his chest, while she recalls last night's events.

They watched _Casablanca_ and played Monopoly and she tried to sketch him a million times but he wouldn't cooperate so they ended up just talking about his book and she stayed the night (after convincing her sweet roommate to cover for her) since by the time they realized how late it was it was _beyond_ curfew.

She manages to pull herself closer to him, entangling their legs further, snuggling deeper into his cool body. Soon she ends up so _tired_ she can't remember what woke her up in the first place.

She falls back asleep with a small smile on her face, dreaming of a blond knight with sparkling green eyes who is saving her, a peasant, from her evil and controlling family while leaving his beautiful princess behind.

.0

He wakes up feeling warmer than usual. It's not unpleasant, not in the slightest, just unusual.

But then he sees her cuddled up to him and he recalls that she's warm all the time and it makes perfect sense.

Whoa. Back this shit the fuck up. Why is she cuddled up next to him? Did they…? No. He would remember if they did. Zack Martin would not forget such a thing.

"We didn't." He breathes softly, relief flooding into his every nerve ending as he pulls her and her warmth closer, tighter, as near to him as he can have her.

He loses himself in her smell – ocean, fruity perfume, and what he knows smells like _him_.

The smirk doesn't leave his face, even as he falls asleep and dreams about a beautiful princess he needs to save from the evil dragon, whose eyes keep flashing from chocolate to sapphire.

.0

"Good morning, beautiful. You know, a guy could get used to seeing your pretty face every time he wakes up." He tells her after a while of them just sitting in silence, enjoying the way the other's body temperature is a contrast to their own and it makes them comfortable, a smile on each of their faces.

"But you have a girlfriend, sweetheart. You shouldn't be saying things like that." She chastises jokingly, and he rolls his eyes. But he's grinning nonetheless.

"I said '_a guy_', beautiful. Not specifically me." He says, and it's her turn to roll her eyes. Does he not understand that she didn't want him to say that? That she wanted to feel special, if only for a moment?

Obviously he didn't.

"Nice save, Hero." She chuckles, and his eyes widen at what she called him.

"Is that my nickname, pretty thing? Like how Cody and Bailey and Woody and London have one? That's mine?" He asks her in the most adorably innocent voice she thinks she's ever heard in her life, his eyes sparkling with childlike amazement.

He's so wonderful.

"Yeah, Hero. Ya like it?" She asks him, biting her lip, and he nods with a smile.

"I really like it. Can I give you one, too?" He is soft and meek, cooing at her as his eyes get all big and he's practically begging her.

"Sure, Hero. As long as it's not… Dorky." She tells him, and he pretends to look upset.

"Damn. So I guess 'Butternut' is out of the question. Too bad." He jokes, making her laugh.

"Hero, no. That's _awful_.' She says between bursts of giggles, and he smiles.

"Good, Pigeon. I think so, too." He says, and she thinks about that nickname. It sounds horribly familiar.

"From_ Lady and the Tramp_? He calls her Pigeon, too." She muses softly, smiling at him, and he nods.

Does this mean he feels the same way about her that Tramp felt about Lady?

Probably not.

"Yeah. I thought it was cute. So naturally, I thought of you." He replies nonchalantly, and she beams at him, butterflies in her tummy.

He finds her cute. She can't even – God, _yes_.

"Thank you, Hero." She murmurs, and he smiles. His smile makes her heart race, and she wonders if he can tell.

"You're welcome, Pigeon." He responds softly, pulling her as close as possible, and she feels the comfort of his cool skin against her, causing her to shiver.

"Hey, Hero, would you mind if I took a shower? I always shower when I first wake up." She says to him, and he nods at her.

"Of course, Pigeon. I'll just use my brother's. He won't mind." He says automatically, and she kisses his cheek in thanks (and because she wanted to see if his skin was as soft as it looked. It was) with a smile.

She jumps off the bed, only wearing a camisole and underwear, feeling his eyes on her as she quickly gets into his bathroom and locks the door behind her.

.0

He opens the door to his cabin clean and steaming from his shower, wearing simple jeans and a graphic tee shirt.

He stops moving as soon as he's inside. She's there, perched criss-cross-applesauce on the middle of his bed, reading whatever book it was she brought. Her hair is slightly damp, falling around her gently. But that really doesn't shock him, because she always looks pretty.

She's wearing one of his shirts.

It's a button up that's barely any big on her and her endless legs and soft curves; only the middle three (because she likes things in threes) buttons done. And he just really wants to undo those buttons (with his _teeth_) and ravish this pretty thing, girlfriend or not.

But he shakes the thoughts from his head because he does have a girlfriend. A girlfriend he loves very much. Who would be very brokenhearted if he were to be an idiot and do what every hormone in his body is telling him to do.

"Oh, God, Hero! I'm sorry! I hope that it's okay that I borrowed it. I always have extra underwear on me, but I didn't have any actual clothes. If you want me to, I'll –"

"No, no, Pigeon. It's fine. No big deal." He chokes, forcing his voice to stay even.

No, Pigeon, this isn't okay. She's killing him over here. She's driving him insane. Oh, God, he's going to lose his mind.

"Hey, Pigeon, what book is that?" He asks her, and she hums in question, looking up at him. He nods to her book, sitting on the bed beside her, and she nods.

"It's good. Want me to read it to you, Hero? It's the book _Mean Girls_ was roughly based on." She replies, and he almost laughs. He loves that movie, but he had no idea it was based on such a boring-looking book.

"That's a nice offer, Pigeon. Let's do it, then." He says, and realizes how suggestive the phrasing of his words sounded _after_ he said them and after her face turned bright red as she laughed.

He rolls his eyes, grinning, as he pulls her to sit between his legs with his arms around her and his chin on her shoulder while she reads the book to him.

.0

"Ohmygod, wow. That's perfect, Hero. Just like that. Don't move." She's laughing at him because he's got on this _face_ and this _pose_ and he looks like a _goof_.

"What if I have to pee?" He asks, becoming more serious, laying with his hands behind his head, propped up on his headboard and staring into space.

"Don't." Sternness fills her normally playful and sweet tone, her pencil flying across the page as she begins to sketch him.

"Thank you, again, Hero, for letting me practice male anatomy on you." Smiling, she discreetly ogles at his well chiseled and tan torso, her mouth slightly watering.

Good Lord, he's _hot_.

"No problem, Pigeon. You said you need the practice. Who am I to say no?" He's sweet and charming and smiley and wonderful.

Too bad he doesn't know she's bluffing.

Okay, only a little bit. Her male bodies could use some work, but they aren't that bad. She just… _Exaggerated_ a bit, to be able to practice on such a fine specimen of man.

And because she's always liked to see him shirtless.

"And you're an absolute doll for it, Hero. Now, don't move." She says strictly, and he nods. "Hey! What did I tell you?" She laughs, and he doesn't even blink. "Perfect." She giggles, seeing the smile quirk at the corners of his lips.

Could he be any cuter?

.0

The door is shoved open, and an exclamation of "Ohmygod! Zack, what are you doing? What happened to Maya?" makes the two teenagers in the room jump right from their skin, sheets and colored pencils falling to the ground in their haste to see who it was.

"Cody, chill. We're not doing anything. It isn't what it looks like." He's calm and levelheaded, such a contrast to his brother, who looks like he's on the verge of a panic attack.

"It looks like – for God's sakes, Zack. I just want an explanation." His younger brother is stern, fatherly, and no-nonsense all the time.

"Pigeon stayed the night, yeah. But only because by the time she was going to head to her cabin, we realized it was way past curfew and she shouldn't have to risk getting in trouble. She came because I asked her to hang out with me. We watched a movie. Played Monopoly. Talked about my story. And she's wearing my clothes because she asked to borrow them after she showered, since she had underwear but no clean clothes. It was all innocent, my brother. You are incredibly paranoid." He explains, while said girl attempts to put away her things without being noticed.

"But that still doesn't explain why _you're_ half naked." Cody narrows his eyes, and Zack rolls his own.

"She asked me to because she wanted to sketch me. She said her male anatomy failed, and that I would be a help." He answers, and his brother looks at the artist girl for confirmation. He knows better than anyone how good the older one is at fabricating stories.

"He's telling the truth, Professor. I swear." Her voice rings form the bathroom, where she's attempting to fix her now wild hair.

"Alright. Just… Put some clothes on, you two. You nearly made me suffer a pulmonary edema." His brother sighs and the other twin rolls his eyes again at the sound of the phrase 'pulmonary edema'. Who says that?

Oh, please bro. He'd never to that to his wonderful girlfriend.

"Whatever. So, why did you come here in the first place?" He asks, feeling Pigeon come to stand by him.

She's so _warm_.

"To remind you that today's Maya's birthday. Have you called her yet?" Cody asks, and Zack slaps his forehead. How could he forget her _birthday?_ Fucking _shit!_

"Crap! Cody, would you mind…" He trails off, letting his twin catch the unfinished thought. Thankfully, he does and waves goodbye to the teenagers.

"Hero, calm down. You're fine. Just tell her you just woke up. She'll believe it." Pigeon's calm and soft and crooning, one hand on his forehead and the other on his chest, '_to keep his head and heart from overheating_ ', she claims.

But she's so damn warm all the time, so that doesn't make any sense to him at all anyway.

"Alright, Pigeon. Do you want to wish her a happy birthday?" He asks, holding his cell phone to her, and she shakes her head.

"No thanks, Hero. She's your lover. You do it." She purrs and coos and goes to lie on his bed, sprawled out and undoing and redoing the buttons on his shirt as she stares at the ceiling.

He can't tell what it is, but there's something off about her right now. Almost like she's sad.

He shakes it off, listening to his phone dialing her number, hoping she'll pick up.

It goes to her voicemail.

"Hey, baby. I just wanted to wish you a happy eighteenth birthday. I just got up, I'm sorry. I love you so much." He leaves a short but sweet message, hanging up and going to see his Pigeon coloring something on his bed, lying on her stomach with her legs bent up at the knees and crossed at her ankles.

She looks so _innocent_.

"Hey, Pigeon." He grins, and she beams up at him.

"Hi there, Hero. Did your lover pick up the phone?" She asks, turning onto her side, putting down her colored pencil and looking at him.

"No. Left her a voicemail. She's probably in class." He breathes; looking at the picture she's coloring. It's of the Sydney Opera House, and it looks ages old and like she's colored over colors a million times.

"Probably. I'm sure she'll call you back from a bathroom or something. Because, you know she would." She smiles, and he nods. Pigeon's right, he decides, as she continues to color the picture.

"Hey, Pigeon, what's that?" He asks her softly, and she shrugs.

"Just something I've had in here since I was really young. I've fixed it and colored over it a trillion times. I don't even know what I'd do if this wasn't here for me whenever I get bored and or uninspired or stuck. I'd probably explode, Hero." She's soft and musing and quiet, eyes glazing over with memories.

"Hey, Pigeon, tell me a story from your childhood." He mumbles to her, elbow on his pillow and his head in one hand, the other tracing random patterns onto her sketchbook paper. He just wants to hear her talking, wants to know as much about her as he can, because he doesn't feel guilty. He doesn't feel guilty about being with her and they're all alone and he just doesn't feel any guilt.

Yet, of course, because he knows it's coming.

"Well, what do you want to hear about, Hero? My first crush, my first great wave, my first day of school, my friends… What?" She asks him, her warm hands on his cool skin as she pushes his hands away from her paper, opening to a new page and starting to sketch something.

"Tell me… Tell me about how it feels when you surf." He says, and she purses her lips, thinking it over as she doodles randomly across the page, hearts and flowers and little dragons and fishes and crowns.

"I love it, Hero. It's like… It's freedom. I would go out to the water whenever I needed to get away – which was a lot. It ended up becoming that the water was the only place I fit. I've even gone night surfing, which is so beautiful. I couldn't breathe if I didn't surf at least once a day. I never… I never knew any other kind of freedom, you know? I was flying, and I just _became_ the surf board. And that's kind of why I wanted to be on this cruise. Sure I wasn't going to surf, but I'd be by the water. In San Francisco, you have the whole bay thing, but it's not… It's all calm water, you know? So it just really sucked being there and not being able to _use_ that water.

"And now I'm on the ocean, and I haven't even thought about escaping with a surf board _once_. Because I don't need to escape that way. Because I have you, and Bumpkin, and Professor, and Curly, and Ms. T, and Mr. M, and Speedy. I have _friends_. Like, _real_ friends." She is soft and purring, her warm temperature pooling around them, so different from the coolness of his own skin, the cool feeling of Maya's.

Oh, God. There's that guilt he was waiting for.

* * *

**A/N - I LIKE FLAMES, OKAY? THEY MAKE ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY. SO I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY, JUST SAY IT.**

**1. Is there anything in particular anyone wants to see? Like, say, an epic showdown between Maya and Geni...?  
2. In all honesty, be serious here, is Geni too... Mary Sue-ish? L**

**Read, review, enjoy. Oh, and picture Dylan Sprouse shirtless in case you're having a bad day. :D**


	5. hot diggedy dog what you do to me

She smiles, looking down at the play in her hand, _Othello_, saying, "I can't believe we're docking in Stratford upon Avon! That's where Shakespeare was born, you know. It's supposed to be amazing. And the theater is gorgeous. I can't wait to visit it!" She squeals, sipping at her raspberry smoothie, to which he shrugs.

"Eh, whatever. I never understood the hype of the guy. Oh, hey, Pigeon?" He asks, wiping down the juice he had spilled on the counter, looking at her with big bright eyes.

"Yeah, Hero?" She looks up from her fingernails, not wanting to see the look in his eyes he got every time his phone would buzz.

He is, after all, texting his wonderful girlfriend.

"How about, since I'm off tomorrow, you and I shoot some hoops? Remember that deal we made? And you already started teaching me to draw landscapes. So now it's my turn." He is charming, sweet, hopeful in his request.

How can she deny him?

"Sure, Hero. Tomorrow you and I will play basketball." She smiles, leaving him at the Easy Squeeze to his cell phone and wonderful girlfriend whom she will never be.

Her heart wrenches at the thought.

"Hey, Geni. You look upset."

"Oh, God! Professor, you scared the crap out of me! And I'm just fine, silly. Why do you ask?" She giggles shrilly, something Lo would recognize as her nervous habit.

Stupid older sister.

"Your fingers twitched to your bag ; where you keep your cigarettes when you aren't wearing pants. And you only smoke when you're nervous or upset." The towel boy points this out like he's been observing her, as though she's some science experiment, and she sighs. No point in lying now, she rationalizes.

She's never been good at it anyways.

"Yippee, you found out my bad habit. You deserve a Nobel Prize." She bites, sarcasm dripping from her mouth; her mouth that's usually smiling. Her fingers twitch to her bag again, and she internally grimaces.

What's _wrong_ with her?

"While your sarcasm is noted (and appreciated) it's unnecessary. Look, Geni, we're… Okay, I know we aren't the _best_ of friends, like you and Bailey, but you know you can trust me. I'm great at keeping secrets if need be." He tells her gently, and she nods. She knows he's good at keeping secrets, knows she can trust him, and also knows he tells his brother _everything_.

This means she won't be confiding in him any time soon.

"Thanks, Professor. But really, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it." She smiles reassuringly, mustering all her strength to make those muscles move.

"Whatever you say, Geni. But remember, if you ever need anybody, you know my cabin. And its door is always open." The twin to the boy she is hopelessly in love with pats her shoulder, and she just keeps smiling.

Ohmyfuckinggod, she _needs_ a cigarette.

Fingers fumbling into her bag, she pulls one out and lights it up. Taking a drag, she closes her eyes and tries not to cough. Fucking gag reflex.

She shakes it off, taking another drag and blowing the smoke out slowly. She flicks the ash away, rubbing her forehead.

"Excuse me, miss, smoking is not permitted on the sky deck."

Oh, shit. Mr. M.

"Sorry, Mr. M, I'll put it out now." She whispers, extinguishing the cigarette and sticking it in someone's napkin.

Fuck.

"Geni? I didn't think you smoked." The authority figure is appalled, and she smiles sheepishly.

"First bad habit. But it's not an often thing, I promise, Mr. M; trust me on that one." She says to him, defensive, and he sighs.

"It's fine, Geni. What you do on your time isn't any of my business. Just… Not on the sky deck." He tells her softly, leaving Geni to her… Not peace.

"Hey, Pigeon, you okay?"

"Jesus! Hero, I think you and your brother are part ninja! I didn't hear either of you come to talk to me!" She exclaims, jumping and screeching when he taps her.

"I'm sorry, Pigeon. Didn't mean to scare you. You just didn't look alright, and I was worried." He tells her kindly, and her heart flutters. Oh, Hero, she's so sorry. She hadn't meant to worry you, she promises.

But she can't help it.

"I'm fine, Hero. Don't worry about me." She smiles reassuringly for the second time that day, her face beginning to ache from the effort, and she tries to get the reek of cigarettes to leave her. Oh, God, she hopes he doesn't notice.

"Was that you, Pigeon, that Moseby just busted with the smokes?" He asks, and she gulps.

Fuck. Busted.

"Yeah, Hero. I… It was. I smoke sometimes. So?" She goes on the defensive, not wanting him in her business. Who the hell died and made him her dad?

"You know those things will kill you, right? They're bad for you and everyone around you, too. Why would you do that?" He is shocked, obviously, and she wants to rip his hair out.

He. Isn't. Her. _Dad!_

"You're not my father, Zack! I'll do whatever the _hell_ I want, and you _can't_ stop me!" She screams, defiant and angry and wild.

How _dare_ he try and tell her what to do! He has _no_ right!

"Pigeon, I'm not trying to control you. I'm just worried about your health, is all." He is unfazed, which makes her even angrier.

"By basically telling me to stop!" She yells, all this pent up anger bubbling up and over her top.

Whoa. She thinks she might need to go talk to Mr. Blanket or something.

"What? No I'm not, Pigeon! Why would you even think that?" He is shocked and hurt. She can see it in his eyes.

She simmers down.

"Because that's the same thing my parents told me when they found out I smoke. They tried to get me to quit cold turkey. It almost worked, too. To this day, I still cough when I take the first drag of a cig. But they calm me down, even for a minute. It's better than the Mary Jane I would smoke back in Cali, on top of the smokes." She is soft, vulnerable. She's never said that to anyone, and she's scared of what he'll say.

"I'm sorry, Pigeon. If you don't want to stop, I'm not making you. But if you're gonna smoke, don't do it around me." He says softly, and she nods.

"Alright then. Okay. So… I'll see you tomorrow for you basketball lessons?" She is hopeful, and he nods in response. There's a soft grin on his face, and she beams.

"I'm counting on it, Pigeon." He tells her, winking before he goes back to work.

Her heart hammers in her chest, blood rushing up to her face.

God, isn't he amazing?

.0

He sees her walk into the gym, her hair up higher on her head than he's ever seen it in the month that he's known her. She looks awkward, almost, with it in that loose, high bun. Like her hair isn't meant to be that way.

"Hey, Pigeon. Whoa. Never seen you with your hair up so high." He comment, and she shrugs. He sees the hoodie she's wearing, thinks it's pretty, and that he might get one for Maya.

But that idea dies once he realizes the awkwardness that would arise should the two wear it at the same time.

"I'm going to get my ass kicked in basketball. Can't have my hair in my face." She grins, showing that 'getting her ass kicked' is no big deal. It's all in good fun, really.

"Well, that's why I'm here, Pigeon. To teach you how to keep your ass from getting kicked." He grins back, charming her. He can't even help it – it's just this natural thing, to be around her.

Fuck. There's that guilt again.

He shakes it away, remembering that they are innocent. He's just teaching her to play basketball. Nothing that could get him into any situation in which he would, ever in a million years, want to cheat on his wonderful girlfriend.

"Alright. So, Hero, get to teaching me then. I haven't got all day – I have a date, after all." She says, and his gut is stabbed with a big green rod again, eyes glowing.

"With who?" He tries not to snarl, angry and jealous and so _confused_.

What's he got to be jealous of? He has the most wonderful, beautiful, perfect girlfriend of life.

"Professor and Bumpkin. We're discussing a book together. It's like our own mini book club." She answers, delight taking over her expression, as though she's never wanted to go anywhere so badly.

"What book?" He asks, calm now. It's just those two. No big deal. He's not gonna worry. It isn't like his brother's going to… To _try_ anything.

Right?

Wait – why does he even _care?_

"_Sophie's World_. It's a mystery/philosophy novel. It's amazing." She smiles, and he begins to dribble the ball.

"Really? I saw my brother carrying that, didn't think much of it. Had no idea you were reading it together." He tells her, throwing her the basketball.

She drops it.

She winces, blushing deeply, picking it up and attempting (in vain) to dribble. Seeing her fail miserably, he chuckles and takes it from her.

Their fingers brush.

Sparks light up.

He chooses to ignore them.

"With your fingerprints, Pigeon. Your fingertips gently press the ball as you apply the weight with your elbow." He instructs, demonstrating to her, showing the right way to move her hands.

"Like this, then, Hero?" She is meek, embarrassed at her failure of this sport, dribbling. It's slightly awkward, not nearly as smoothly as when he does it, but correct nonetheless.

"There ya go, Pigeon. You got it. Now, try and move around while doing just that. Whatever you do, Pigeon – don't let me get the ball." He comes at her, and she squeals, dribbling and rushing from him, attempting to keep control of the ball.

"Make a shot, Pigeon!" He laughs, watching her go right for the net.

She shoots the ball. It twirls around the rim, and she bites her lip. It tilts, and…

Falls right into his hands.

"Damn." She mutters, pouting, and he chuckles. She's really, really cute.

"It's okay. That was really close. And you didn't even travel." He tells her encouragingly, patting her shoulder. Even through the hoodie, he can feel her warmth.

"Hey, Hero, can you teach me how to do a layup? Mine are awful." She asks, pink with embarrassment, and he grins.

"Of course, Pigeon. That's why we made this deal, right? To teach each other." He smiles, holding the ball in his hands.

"Okay, so, here's what you gotta do…"

.0

"Ah! Hero!" She's laughing, squealing, setting his skin on fire when wraps his arms around her from behind, lifting her up as he tries to get the ball from her hands.

"Well, Pigeon, this is why you don't travel!" He laughs, his face in her shoulder, chin on her shoulder.

Curious, he nudges it gently with the tip of his nose, skin barely touching hers.

"Hey, Pigeon, what's this tattoo?" He asks, soft and innocent as he sets her down, tracing the bird with a cool fingertip.

She shivers. From what, he doesn't know.

"It's to symbolize freedom. There's a cage, too, between my shoulder blades. You see it better when I have a bathing suit on." She explains, tugging down the hem of her tank top (she had removed the hoodie a while ago) down so he can see the top of a cage.

"Oh, cool, Pigeon. But how does it symbolize freedom?" He asks. Doesn't a bird in and a cage mean you're trapped?

"The cage door is open. Like if the bird is flying away." She responds, and he nods in understanding.

Clever, Pigeon. Very clever.

"How long have you had it?" He asks, and she bites her lip, remembering.

"I got it the day before I set foot on this boat. It was a gift to me, you know? Like, to show that I'm free. And if I ever feel caged, I know this'll keep me reminded that I'm not, anymore." She explains, and he nods.

Damn. Fricken deep.

"Wow. That's really cool, Pigeon." He breathes, and she grins cheekily at him.

"I know I am." She jokes, and he chuckles. His phone rings in his pocket, and he sees that it's a text from Maya.

**Hey, Zack. Awesome news – when you guys dock in Venice next week (for your birthday ;P) I'm going to be there! **

"Oh, Pigeon, guess what Maya just told me?" He asks, and she gives him a questioning smile. It's off, though, almost… Fake.

"What, Hero?" She asks, and he can hear an aggravated tightness to her voice. He shakes it off, chalking it up to him and his almost craziness.

"She's gonna be here for my birthday in Venice!" He is excited, and Pigeon smiles brightly. She gives him a hug, telling him how excited she is for him and how she can't wait for his birthday, so they can all be together, and oh, wow, how amazing is this for him?

But… But he can tell something's wrong. He can tell she isn't really in it.

"Pigeon, are you okay?" He asks her, and she looks shocked.

"Of course I am, Hero. Why would you ask that?" She smiles softly, and he shrugs. Why did he ask? She seems perfectly fine, really. He's just overanalyzing this.

"Nothing, never mind. It's no big deal. I'm just a little tired after getting my royal ass kicked by a girl." He jokes, and she laughs.

"Yeah, you should be tired. I wiped the floor with you." She giggles, and she bumps him with her shoulder teasingly. He bumps back, chuckling, as they walk out to the sky deck together.

"I'm gonna go shower, okay? And finish up some homework. See you, Hero?" She asks, and he nods.

"For sure." He replies, and she leaves. He watches her smile and say hello to almost everyone she passes, at least those people she knows, and he wonders again why he thought there was anything wrong in the first place.

.0

She smiles, looking up at the bright blue sky and readjusting her bag on her shoulder. She's standing right in front of the most famous theater in Stratford upon Avon, and it's just as beautiful as she imagined.

Oh, God, how she wants to see a play here.

"Pigeon, you coming or what?" He calls, and she shakes her head at him.

"I'll meet you at the restaurant, Hero! Go on!" She yells back, and he shrugs, leaving. She smiles in his direction, earning a smile or two back from a few random strangers.

She walks around the back of the theater, through an alley, and she grimaces at the reek of the dumpster.

"Oh, God. It's disgusting." She gags, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Until she hears a noise.

"What's that?" She asks softly, leaning towards the sound of the noise. It's a whimpering sound, almost, and it's breaking her heart to listen to it. It gets louder, and she inches closer.

It's a box. Beside the dumpster.

She grimaces, opening the box with her fingertips, and she gasps at what she finds.

A Dalmatian puppy.

"Oh, God! You poor little thing!" She picks him up, not even caring that he kind of smells like garbage and he's probably got fleas or something. He looks so scared, so frail, and so _alone_.

She's keeping him.

Holding the puppy, she rushes out of the alley and tries to catch up to her friends. She spots that familiar mop of blond hair (on two heads standing beside each other) and the curly 'fro of her rather… _Chubby_ friend as well, all of them walking beside one girl with long, flowing, gorgeous chestnut locks.

"Guys! Wait up!" She calls, and they stop.

She runs up to them, panting a little thanks to the speed at which she ran. Ask her later, and she swears, she'll tell you the speed of light.

"Look what I found." She breathes, showing them the frightened little Dalmatian in her arms. Bumpkin and Curly gasp in delight, Professor grimaces in disgust at the dog's dirty fur, and Hero… Hero is in awe.

"Where did you pick up this cute thing?" Bumpkin reaches for the puppy, but she holds him back.

"In an alley behind the theatre. I couldn't _not_ grab at him, you know? I'm keeping him. And I'll name him Pongo." She grins, petting the soft little thing, wondering how she's going to convince Mr. M to let her keep him.

"How cute!" Curly gushes, and she grins at him. He's so innocent, really, and she knows he misses his dog back in Cleveland. He's told her before.

"Isn't he? But he needs a bath. And food. And a nice, warm, comfy bed." She murmurs, holding the puppy closer to her heart; she just can't let him go.

"Why don't you and Zack take him back to the ship? Woody, Bails and I can go look for supplies." Professor offers, and she smiles at him in thanks.

He's letting her be alone with Hero.

"Professor, that would be the bee's knees!" She blows him a kiss, knowing he wouldn't let her come close to him, and he blushes slightly.

"So we'll catch up to you guys on the ship, then. Bye." Bumpkin smiles, blowing the little puppy a kiss, leaving with Curly and Professor.

"Hero, you've been so quiet. What's wrong?" She asks, pouting in worry, and he shakes his head.

"It's nothing, Pigeon. Just… That's a real nice thing you did, rescuing this puppy. Most girls wouldn't even touch him, since he's all dirty and stuff." He tells her sweetly, smiling, petting the dog gently atop its head, wiping his hand on his pants afterwards.

"Well, I'm not like most girls, then. Besides, how could I not? Look at him. He has the most beautiful brown eyes. C'mon. Let's get him cleaned up and curled in a soft bed." She uses that baby voice when she says the last part, the voice that tends to get on people's nerves. She doesn't care, though, because she really, _really_ loves this dog.

.0

He helps her get Pongo into the bath, wondering where she bought the dog shampoo on such short notice, but deciding to not question it.

"Zack, you're making me wet!" Pigeon squeals at him when he accidentally turns the removable showerhead in her direction.

Oh, fuck. Dirty thoughts aren't helping him bathe this dog.

He shakes them from his head, guilty, and apologizes.

"It's fine. Just hold him still while I shampoo the little darling." She instructs, and he does as he is told. The squirming, tiny thing is hard to control, but he calms down after a moment.

"He likes you." Pigeon smiles, as though she were making some flippant comment on the weather or something. He grins, releasing Pongo so she can rinse him off.

"He adores you." He tells her when the wet, wriggly puppy all but leaps into her arms. She laughs, drying him off quickly. She kisses the top of his head, and he licks at her face.

She's too busy laughing to push Pongo off; too busy completely and totally making him, the boy with a girlfriend, laugh until he can't breathe.

What's wrong with him?

.0

"Oh, please, Mr. M! Can I keep him? I promise he won't be a bother." She pouts, begging the man. She knows he'll say yes. He just has to. Because… Because he lets Ms. T keep all those cats! So why can't she keep one little pup?

"Sure, Geni. Just don't… Just make sure he's cleaned up after and all that." Mr. M says, and Geni squeals. Using the arm that isn't holding Pongo, she gives him a hug. He returns it, snickering when he feels the puppy lick at his other hand.

"Oh, Mr. M! He really likes you! He did the same thing to He – I mean, Zack." She says, cutting herself off. The adults aren't supposed to know about the nicknames. It's just supposed to be _their_ (the teenagers) thing. Not anybody else.

"I can see that. So, what's his name?" Mr. M asks cheerfully, petting Pongo between the ears.

"I decided to name him Pongo. And Zack made a joke that now, we need to find a Perdita." She giggles, recalling the silly comment.

"Only Zack would say such a thing." Mr. M rolls his eyes jokingly. He's really quite fond of the 'hooligan', she can just tell. He's a son to him, albeit an annoying one, but a son nonetheless.

"Hey, Mr. M, can I ask you a favor?" She is embarrassed to have to ask him of this, because really, she shouldn't have to.. But… But she _needs _to.

"Yes?" He asks her, serious once again, and she bites her lip.

"Could you please tell Ms. T to stop asking if I want a cat?"

* * *

**AN- I AM SO SORRY. I KNOW, I'M A BAD PERSON FOR NOT UPDATING. DO NOT EAT ME.**

**I think I just lost my co-author, so like... Bear with me here. This story may not be as funny as it was before (because like... She was the funny one. I'm not.) so I am sorry for that.**

**1. Is Pongo too much? **

**2. WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD HAPPEN IN VENICE? SHOULD THE EPIC SHOWDOWN FINALLY COMMENCE?**


	6. ashes ashes it all falls down

The gondolas are in view, and she just has this… This _feeling_ in her stomach that oh, god, something bad is going to happen.

They're in Venice. And Hero's birthday is tomorrow.

"Look at them. How can you not love them?" She asks Bumpkin, realizing her _faux pas_ a moment too late.

"Oh, God! I'm sorry, Bumpkin! I had totally forgotten!" She worries, pouting and begging for forgiveness.

"It is totally fine, Gen. Don't even bother about it. I'm fine." Bumpkin is reassuring, sweet, and totally horrible at lying as she waves her hand nonchalantly about the whole thing.

Because it isn't like Bumpkin hadn't told her that she and Professor exchanged virginities in a gondola. It isn't like after that, in Paris, she got _dumped_. And it _definitely_ isn't like she was worried absolutely _sick_ when she thought she had been pregnant after that.

Pfft. _Not at all_.

"Bumpkin, you're an awful liar. But that aside, I'm going to distract you as best I can. So, we're going shopping." She is grinning, yanking at the girl, ignoring her protests of not having money and oh, no, we can't do this or that.

It's about _fun_ right now.

.0

"Whoa. I had no idea we could buy _this _much –"

"Don't you dare say it, Bumpkin. If you say it, I will return every last piece of what I bought. I can't believe I did this!" She exclaims, burying her face in her hands as they laugh, sitting down at a cute little café for lunch.

"What do we need it for, anyway? It isn't like we have anyone to impress or anything. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't, at least." Bumpkin sighs sadly, and Geni pouts for her.

Poor little heartbroken farm girl, just wants her nerd boy back.

"I don't have anyone, either. I mean, there's someone I _want_, but we could never be." She sighs in her own sadness, thinking of Hero. Oh, God, it hurts to think of him.

She needs a cigarette.

"Bumpkin, hey, can we get back on the boat? I… There's something I gotta do. I love being in Venice and shopping with you and whatever, but I need to do something on the boat." She says softly, hand shaking as she stands up, carrying her bags. Bumpkin nods, following her as she almost runs off to the ship.

"Uhm, I guess I'll see you later, then, yeah?" Bumpkin asks when they reach the sky deck, parting ways.

She needs to go. Now. Like, right now. Or else she's going to implode.

"Yeah, you will. Later. So we can come up with things to do with our new… _Purchases_." She smirks when Bumpkin blushes, rushing into her room. She doesn't even look at her roommate as she throws her bags onto her bed, steps into the bathroom and opens a porthole, lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag.

Relax.

.0

"Oh, Hero, you'll never guess –"

She barges into his room. Again. When he's just coming from the shower. _Again_.

She squeaks out an apology, red with embarrassment, shutting the door as he laughs, quickly throwing on some sweat pants, deciding to dry his hair before putting on a shirt. He opens the door with the towel around his neck, running it through his hair.

He doesn't miss the way her eyes flash from his eyes, to his lips, to his chest, back to his eyes again.

Oh, okay.

"Jeez, Pigeon, knock much?" He teases her, letting her into his room, running the towel through his hair before pulling on a clean shirt.

"Lock your door much, Hero? For all you know I could've been some psycho, ready to rape you and then chop off your penis." She retorts, and he shakes his head, smirking.

"Pigeon, you'd take one look at me and decide I was too handsome to kill." He sees her blush, smirking wider, and she sticks her tongue out.

"But what about the raping part? I'd still do that, if I were crazy enough." She tells him, and he pretends to be hurt.

"Oh, Pigeon! Are you saying you wouldn't ever do me?" He asks, giving her his best puppy face, and she runs her hand though her hair in mock annoyance, pretending to gag.

"Not even if I was the last girl on Earth, and you were the only boy, Hero. I _have_ standards." She sneers, but he knows she's kidding. She isn't mean, or spiteful. Not really; not as far as he knows, at least.

But he holds his hand up in surrender, smiling at her. She smiles back, and by God it takes his breath away. Will he ever get used to her smile; her dimples; the way her eyes get brighter?

He doesn't think so.

It's a scary thought.

"So, Pigeon, what did you want me to guess?" He asks, and she looks confused.

Quickly, though, she recollects her wits and says, "Bumpkin and I think Professor is gonna ask her out soon!" She squeals, and he smiles at her enthusiasm.

"Really, how does she know?" He asks, curious. Bailey makes his brother better, makes him happy, and he really wants his brother to be happy.

"Well, all the signs are there; that he's still interested in her, I mean. And they've been getting worse. So he's bound to override himself soon, ask her out just to relieve the pain. Of course, we went over every single possibility of what everything could even mean. And that was the conclusion." She beams, and he arches a brow, asking without words.

_How do you know?_

"Hero, all the signs are there! It's so obvious!" She almost sounds exasperated, pushing her hair from her face, rubbing her eyes.

Pigeon, he is a guy. Guys have never, since the dawn of time, been good with feelings, signals, or signs alike. And he apologizes on behalf of the gender.

"If he's to touch her, he'll linger. On her arm, her hand, her knees, her shoulder, et cetera. He uses any and every excuse to be around her, be in the same room as her, work with her, or even just have her notice him…

"Hero, just trust me on this one. We're girls, we know these things. And I've seen the way he looks at her, when he thinks he's being sly and discreet. It's the most heartbreaking thing, Hero, to see him look at her that way and to know she loves him, too."

She is soft again, smiling, and he is absolutely curious. What look?

"How does he look at her, Pigeon?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"The same way you look at Maya." She replies, like it's the simplest answer on the planet.

It should be, and the fact that he didn't realize it worries him.

"So you're sure, Pigeon, he's gonna ask her out?" He asks, but he is sure of it, anyway. How can he not be? This is, after all, his twin they're talking about.

"If he doesn't, she will. But Hero, you can't tell anyone this. She told me not to tell anyone in the first place. But I couldn't keep this from you of all people."

And he is flattered at that: that she'd do specifically what her very best friend told her not to do, just because she's friends with him.

Or because this has to do with his twin. Either way, she defied Bailey. For him.

"My lips are sealed, Pigeon. I swear." He does the goofy 'zip your lips' thing, wanting to make her laugh. He doesn't expect it, though. Maya never laughs.

Pigeon bursts into giggles, rolling her eyes and thanking him for not telling.

Oh. Okay.

"So, Pigeon, how was your first time in Venice?" He asks, sitting on his bed and motioning for her to sit beside him.

She kicks off her heels (he wonders just how girls walk in them, they're so high) and curls up beside him, replying, "It was fun. Bumpkin and I went shopping. I love it here. I love Europe in general," She pauses, looking for something, and asks, "Hey, Hero, where's Pongo?"

"Oh, don't worry. I let him and Ivonna play together. He's totally safe." He shrugs, reassuring, and her head shoots up.

"What? You left my baby with that... That spoiled _mutt?_ She'll probably claw his eyes out or something!" She screeches, jumping up and running out of the room, not even putting on her shoes.

"Pigeon! Come back! What's the big deal?" He asks when he finally manages to grab her, shoes in hand. She positively flipped out. Why?

"I don't want Pongo anywhere _near_ that dog! _Especially_ its owner!" She seethes, her eyes blazing.

"What have you got against London?" He asks, feeling slightly hurt. London is one of his oldest friends, and Pigeon hates her?

He didn't even think she was capable of hate.

"She took everything away from me! My parents, my home, my life! It's her fault my parents fight, since Mom is always worrying about everything! Her fault I moved to California, because Mom lost her job!" She yells, becoming hysterical. He doesn't know what to do if she cries. He's never dealt with criers too well.

"That was her dad, Pigeon, not her." He says, trying to remain calm or become hysterical himself. She's freaking him out.

"No! I found out! She told her dad to drop his Australia chain, and Mom lost her job! So we had to move to the St. Mark in California! I had to leave my friends, my surfing, everything I knew back there! All because of her!"

She's crying. Oh, God, she's crying. What the hell is he going to do? He doesn't know how to handle tears!

"Pigeon, for the love of God, please don't cry. I'm beggin' ya, Pigeon, don't. I'm so sorry, I didn't know, please stop the waterworks." He begs, biting his lip nervously, not touching her but wishing he could. Rub her back or something? He doesn't know what he's supposed to do.

Maya never cries.

"Hero, just… Come with me to get my dog back. And never do that again."

She's purring and cooing, like she does when she's sad. He feels horrible that he made her cry; he's never ever wanted to make her cry.

"Sure, Pigeon. Are you done crying?" He asks with a grin, and she blubbers a laugh, wiping her eyes.

"I'm a mess, but yeah, I'm done. Hero, I'm cold; mind if I borrow your sweater?" She asks softly, and he nods. He takes the sweater off, holding her shoes in his hand for her as she puts it on. It's barely oversized on her, but the sleeves are long and cover her hands entirely. She snuggles into the fabric, wiping at her eyes still.

He smiles at her, grabbing her hand. He can feel her warmth through the sleeve of his sweater, and he notes that the sleeve is covered in make-up. It doesn't bother him, though: he's sure his brother will know a way to get it out.

"Hey, Hero?" She asks as they reach the kennel, and he nods in her direction, responding without words.

"Why did Bumpkin and Professor break up? I mean, I never asked either of them because they were part of it. A third person point of view is better." She says, and he bites his lip.

Should he tell? It isn't exactly his business, but still, this is Pigeon he's talking to. And besides, since when has he cared either way?

"Well, it's really stupid, but… Both of them thought the other was cheating. And my stupid brother wouldn't let her explain anything." He replies, and she pouts, hand on her hip.

"Your brother may be a sponge when it comes to school stuff, but when it comes to social skills; he's like a black hole." She says softly, totally serious, and he laughs.

"You know what the sad part is, Pigeon? You're totally and completely right." He tells her, and she shrugs like being right is no big deal, she's right all the time, yeah.

"C'mon. Let's go get my dog." She says to him, yanking him forward to the kennel, her shoes forgotten in the hallway.

.0

"Happy, happy birthday, from your good friend to you! Happy, happy birthday, may all those dreams come true!"

She's bouncing and giggling, looking at him at the juice bar as she sings to him. He grins, blushing and bashful, as she hands him his birthday gift and gives him a hug over the counter.

"Thanks, Pigeon. You didn't have to do anything." He tells her, opening the bag, and she waves a flippant hand, insisting that she did, because they're best friends and how could she not?

"I just hope you like it, Hero, is all." She tells him as he looks at her gift, eyes open in awe. She bites her lip, knowing he likes it, because she knows him; knows him probably better than his pretty little girlfriend, something that makes her smirk despite herself.

"Thank you, Pigeon. It's wonderful, it really is. I love it." He tells her, giving her another hug, smiling brightly. She loves it when he smiles, she really does. It's bright and big and all his teeth are sparkly. It brings up these lyrics, from that one song, she can't remember the name of it.

_You're got a smile that could light up this whole town_.

"You're welcome, Hero. I saw it and I just… I couldn't help it, ya know? I had to buy it for you." She says, and he gives her a free raspberry smoothie just like always, smiling at her and reading the book she got him about psychology.

She saw it and automatically reached for it, she remembers, because it made her think of him and everything they've talked about and everything she knows about what he wants to do/be. That day, both of them so incredibly high and drunk because – because they could be and she really wanted to just relax and so did he, they talked about a lot of things: their future, why they hate the people they hate, things like that.

But she was smart, she was careful, and she didn't tell him about her feelings. She caught herself every time, still marveling at the fact that she could.

"Thank you, again, Pigeon. And – oh, Maya, hey!" He cuts off whatever he was going to tell her, and looks up to his gorgeous girlfriend.

"I… I have to go, Hero." She whispers, leaving her smoothie on the counter, practically untouched as she rushes off the sky deck, hiding her face in her hair. She just needs to get away from them – away from their stupid happiness and love glow. It makes her fricken _sick_.

She's almost at her cabin, almost back to her sweet puppy and her cigarettes, when someone grabs her arm and scares the crap out of her.

"Good God, you've grown!"

Oh, no. That familiar voice. Those sea green eyes. That short sun bleached hair and tan skin. That malicious smile. It can't be. It shouldn't be. No way in hell.

Her sister.

.0

She grits her teeth, arms crossed at her chest as she, Bumpkin, her stupid fucking _sister_, and Hero's goddamn _girlfriend_, the two people she despises the most on this fricken _planet_, are sitting in a café in Venice. Talking about their old boyfriends and current boyfriends and guys they just like in general, celebrities included.

"Oh, but nobody is better looking than Zack. He's just got this… This _thing_ to him, you know? And tonight, since it's his birthday, we're… Well, I don't really have to say it, do I?" Maya blushes, and Geni clenches her hands into fists, her heart breaking.

They're going to have _sex._

Fuck. She doesn't even want to think about him with Maya; arms wrapped around Maya; Maya's name on his lips; Maya's body _soclose_ to his. But… But she loves Hero. And this girl makes him happy.

So she's gotta be happy. She's just gotta be. For her Hero; only ever for her Hero.

"My _God, _Gen. You need to keep yourself under control." Lou bursts her younger sister from her thought bubble, and the blue eyed girl looks confused. The hell? She's about ready to claw the older one's eyes out, so she has no right to give her any kind of shit.

"What're you talking about, Lou?" She snaps, whether intentionally or not she doesn't know, and nor does she give half a damn. It's her sister. She deserves it.

"It's so _obvious_ you like this Zack guy!" Lou exclaims, rolling her eyes and just _saying it_ like it's _no big fucking deal_, his damn girlfriend isn't sitting _right there_.

Maya's eye twitches.

Bailey looks appalled.

Geni is fuming.

Lou has a smirk on her face.

"I hate – no, I _loathe_ you. I never want to see you again." She whispers softly to her sister, getting up and leaving. She runs back to the boat, forcing the tears back because fuck no, she isn't crying. She hasn't cried because of her sister in the longest time; she sure as hell isn't going to do it now.

"Pigeon, hey, what's wrong?" He grabs her arm, and she can't even look him in the eye right now. She's going to explode, or implode, whichever, if she doesn't have a cigarette _right now_ – as in, within the next minute and a half.

"Nothing, Hero. I need to go. Now." She says sternly, and he lets her go swiftly as she walks as quickly as possible to her room. She doesn't miss the way her phone vibrates in her pocket, probably texts and calls from her sister and best friend. She isn't going to answer them, though. Why the hell should she?

She opens the porthole in her room, grabbing her cigarettes from the bedside table, lighting up and taking a heavy drag. She coughs once, but it's barely a cough. She's gotten used to the taste again, something she surely isn't proud of, and doesn't care about either way. She's smoking, and that's all that matters.

.0

She walks onto the sky deck for his party, hoping to God her sister left and that Maya forgot and that she didn't tell Hero and Bumpkin won't confront her at all.

Naturally, none of these things happen.

The second she steps onto that deck, her sister is screaming at her; Maya is glaring at her; Bumpkin is frowning at her; worst of all, Hero looks so _sad_.

"Shut your goddamn mouth, you stupid, overbearing, horrendous bitch! I don't need you on my case about _everything!_ I was so glad we left you in Australia, because that meant I wouldn't have you badgering me about _every little thing_ I would do! I didn't need it then, I sure as fuck don't need it now! So shut up and stay _the hell out of my life!_"

She's angry and screaming and everything is tinted a hideous shade of red. She really, really hates her sister right now. How _dare_ her fucking sister yell at her like this! She hasn't _any_ right! It's her fault she ran off like that in the first place!

"Where did you get the gall to talk to me like that, Genevieve Adrianna Tate? I'm your _older_ sister! I'm the boss of you, whether you like it or not!" Her sister yells right back, and now Geni remembers why she got so good at fighting: _this_.

"Since when? I don't fucking _need_ you, Louise! You're just this narcissistic megalomaniac who doesn't know when to shut her big mouth! You are no sister of mine!"

With that, her sister hits her across the face and storms off the boat. Everyone gasps, but nobody moves.

"I bet that was a lovely little display for you all. Would you like a go, Maya?" She snaps at the brunette whose just been staring the entire time directly at her, gripping her boyfriend's hand tightly as though to say, '_He's mine. You aren't allowed near him. Never again_.'

"Why? I don't need to hit you. I already have what you want. What's the point?" Maya snaps right back, and Geni rolls her eyes.

"And? What does that prove? You were here _first_, so _of course_ you do! It's not like I was going to do anything anyway!" She exclaims, her cheek stinging but she makes no move to touch it. She can't. She doesn't want to show how her sister's gotten to her; that she's vulnerable.

"How am I to trust you? You _love_ him! I suspected it, you know. I'm not stupid, Geni. I had a feeling you were in love with him, and now I know. I trust him completely, I know he'd never cheat on me. But I can't trust _you_. How should I know you won't try and lead him astray like the slut you are?"

Maya isn't even yelling. She's standing with her hands on her hips, condescending as can be.

Prick.

"Presumptuous little bitch! You're the slut, if any of us! You were as bad a player as he was. I can't believe you had lied to him and told him it was six guys."

Geni crosses her arms at her chest, watching Maya's eyes widen in shock as her mouth makes an 'O'. Well _that_ seems to have shut the New Yorker up.

"You're some stupid little nicotine addict who can't keep her mitts off other people's boyfriends!" Maya snarls, and Geni grits her teeth, clenching her hands into fists.

It can't get physical. She can't get in trouble for fighting. But dammit, this girl is pushing her over the edge.

"Whatever, Maya. Keep him. I can live with the heartache." She says softly, looking at him for the first time since all the fighting began.

"Pigeon, wait." He tells her as she starts to walk off the deck. This throws Maya into a fit.

"What the fuck did you just call her?" She asks incredulously, and Hero shakes his head.

"It's my nickname for her. She makes up ones for others, and I call her that. What's the big deal?" He asks her, and she doesn't think he notices that Geni is still there, watching the argument, wanting to hear what he has to say.

"Nicknames? What's her nickname for you?" Maya's practically hysterical, throwing her hands into the air and looking between Geni and Hero.

"I call him Hero. He calls me Pigeon." She says quietly, sighing heavily as she takes her hat off to push her hair from her face. Can she go now? Please? She's tired, she needs a cigarette, and she also would like to go plot her sister's murder, thank you.

"And why was I never informed of this?" Maya yells, and Geni rolls her eyes. How stupid is she? How insecure can she get?

"It's not a big deal, Maya. It isn't like I'm going to be speaking to him, or anyone for that matter, anyway. You made your point, okay? You don't want me near him. And if I can't be around him, then I may as well be alone." She murmurs, looking down at the wooden floor of the sky deck, walking up to him slowly.

"What're you doing?" His girlfriend seethes, and she glares at her. Really? Honestly, this is just pushing it.

"What? Am I not allowed to say goodbye to him or something? God, you're so fucking insecure. Calm your tits and just go fuck him already." She snaps, and the girlfriend stares at her in shock, as if she was slapped.

"Pigeon, hey, what's going on? Why are you saying goodbye? Can't we… Can't we talk?" He asks her softly, and his girlfriend makes this sound, the mixture of a scoff and a snort, causing the Aussie to clench her fists again.

"Just goodbye, okay? You have Maya anyway – what am I good for besides being annoying?" She's finally crying, but she blubbers a laugh anyway. She pats his cheek affectionately, pulling him in for a quick hug as she whispers in his ear, "Happy, happy birthday, may all those dreams come true."

Then, she runs.

* * *

**AN - Holy. Shit. Please, don't eat me! I'm not tasty/chewy! I'm so, so, horrifically and incredibly sorry! But there was this whole thing with my friend and it all just got complicated, okay? Also, the 'epic showdown' was not epic. At all. I apologize. But... But this is how I planned it out. This is what I wanted to happen. No crazy shit, just a lot of yelling, and then a sad ending. I apologize if it isn't what you all were expecting, and you are free to flame me.**

**1. Ahem. So. Was Maya too... Evil? Did I not do her character justice?  
2. Any predictions for what happens next?**


	7. watch fireworksfade and dustsettle

She lights up another cigarette, wondering if she should have a joint this time around instead. It'd be her fourth one this week.

Has it been a week? She doesn't even know anymore. It sure as hell hasn't felt like a week, she knows that much. It honestly feels like it's only been _hours_ since her whole fucking world came crumbling down.

Now all she does is smoke, drink, eat, and _cry_. The only reason she even leaves her cabin anymore is to get food and her precious California green. But she always, _always_, under every circumstance, avoids the sky deck. Avoids _him_.

Hero.

How could she have let everything spiral out of control and get so _fucked up_ like it did? Her stupid frigging sister, that horrible bitch of a person (Pfft! More like some kind of _spawn_) had to come and ruin everything! It was all going fine, she hadn't killed Maya yet or anything, and that devil (whom she refuses to believe is related to her) just had to go and get the New Yorker pissed at her!

"I'm gonna kill her." She snarls for the millionth time since all this happened, tossing her cigarette but in the trash can. She groans, taking a swig of her watermelon Smirnoff, wiping away fresh tears from her eyes.

Oh, God. Her had looked so _upset_ when she ran off, crying like she had. He's never done well with tears. He keeps trying to contact her (ninety seven unread texts, forty three missed calls, fifteen voicemails and counting) and he had come by a million times, even sending other people to get her for him. She turned him away every time, claiming one thing or another until it got to the point where she just ignored him completely.

"Hey, Geni, I know you're upset and everything, but you should really stop stealing the liquor. You could get in trouble." Her roommate says, and she doesn't even leave the bathroom.;

"Whatever. Let me get expelled. Anywhere is better than this fucking boat right now." She slurs, the Smirnoff taking its effect and numbing her. She really, really just wants the pain to go away.

"Alright, then. But don't say I didn't warn you." Her roommate calls, and the Australian just flips her off, rolling her eyes.

Can't they just leave her alone? Don't they see that she wants to die? Why hasn't she just killed her –

"Pongo! Good god, pup! You scared the life out of me!"

Oh, yeah. That's why.

She pets the puppy gently, crying as she recalls how close this puppy brought she and him; the puppy, the only thing tying her down to the world; the puppy, the only reason she's existing still. Because she isn't living, not anymore, she just exists.

"Baby boy, I love you. Love me forever, okay? Promise me you won't leave?" She asks the little dog gently, crying as she buries her face in his soft fur. He licks her tears, a puppy promise to be with her forever.

Her phone rings loudly (fuck, why hasn't she turned it _off)_ and she groans. She goes to see the name, still carrying her dog, and she laughs bitterly – she's been expecting this. The oh-so-familiar number, the most annoying ringtone she could find, the picture she hasn't seen since she was fourteen.

Her sister.

She lets it go to voicemail, flipping off her cell phone as though doing that will make her sister feel her wrath. God, how she despises her sister.

It's all her fault this happened, anyway: the moron doesn't know how to keep her big mouth shut!

"Geni, my god! Your fucking phone is going to _blow up_ if you don't answer it soon!" Her roommate yells at her, and she glares at the girl.

"If it's annoying you so damn much, then why don't you just leave me and my dog alone?" She snaps, wondering what in all of holy hell has snatched her body.

"I already _am!_ Addison's roommate graduated early." The blond girl (oh, god, she's been rooming with a blond all this time – like her effing sister) grabs her bag and storms out.

Geni lets out a bloodcurdling yell, her anger and heartache let out in that one sound. It's loud and shrill and she knows it will carry. Her hands are holding her head (because she's convinced she's going to lose it at some point if she isn't careful) and she's clenching her eyes shut, body doubled over.

She looks like she's dying, standing up.

"Good heavens, Geni! Whatever is the matter?"

She jumps, silencing herself and curling up in a ball at the far corner of the room, letting Mr. M bang on her door. She isn't here, she promises. She doesn't know who this is in her body, but it isn't her. So can he go now?

"Geni, I know you're in there. I'm on the verge of calling your parents, Geni. If you don't open the door, I'll do it." He threatens, and she wants to laugh. Her _parents?_ He certainly doesn't have their number!

But she gets the door anyway, knowing she has to keep up the pretense of being in this school under parental permission.

"Mr. M, nothing's wrong. Would you mind leaving?" She asks him meekly, tugging at Hero's shirt (she stole it from him that one time he stayed over and she decided to wear it today) and not meeting his eyes, biting her bottom lip.

"Why did you scream?" He asks her again, and she shakes her head, pushing her hair from her face.

"No reason, Mr. Moseby. I'm – I promise, I'm totally and completely one hundred percent fine. I swear." She smiles at him reassuringly, because she really just wants him to leave, her face aching from the effort to look happy and normal when she really isn't.

"Ms. Tuttweiler, as well as many of your classmates, have informed me that you haven't been attending classes since Zack' and Cody's birthday. What happened?" Mr. M is tentative in his questioning. He doesn't want to hurt her, she realizes, and it almost breaks whatever is left of her hart.

"I just haven't been feeling well, that's all." She tells him, and it isn't exactly a lie. She _hasn't_ been feeling well – more depressed and suicidal than usual.

"Then why not go to the infirmary?" He is persistent, and she shakes her head. She can't go there! Word would spread that's where she was, and then she'd have nowhere to run.

"Trust me, Mr. Moseby, know what works for me. You've got plenty other things to worry about." She closes her door, listening to him sigh and walk away.

Poor Mr. M. He just wants to feel like he's helping her, and she isn't letting him. She needs out of this room, she realizes. Oh, god, she needs to get out of here.

"Hey, Pongo, how do you feel about going on the sky deck?"

.0

He sighs, head in his hands as he leans against the smoothie counter. He's been a wreck since his birthday, he really has. It was all over when she ran away. His brother tried his best to comfort him, tell him she's gonna be fine and that he should try and talk to her, but it didn't work.

She's ignoring him. She's completely and totally shutting him (and everyone in general) from her life.

It hurts.

He shakes his head and goes back to making smoothies, not wanting to waste time looking for her on the sky deck, something he knows won't happen. She hasn't been on the sky deck in a week, and it isn't like she's going to change that any time soon, right?

Right.

Oh, what's the fucking point in pretending to be okay with it? He misses her, he really does.

He misses making her raspberry smoothies (with a twinge of lemon, though he'd never tell her that) He misses how she would always look so sleek and satiny. He misses her dimples that would show up every time she smiles. He misses the blue of her eyes. He misses how she'd tease him. Not like how Maya does it, because he never really knows if Maya's joking – he always knows if Geni's being honest. He misses her silliness; her childish awe. He misses how she'd babble on and on about books or movies or anything she wants to talk about that day.

He misses… He misses _her_.

"Zack, may I have a word with you?"

The boy jumps, suddenly nervous. Moseby never wants to talk to him unless he's accusing him of something. He hasn't done anything, right? He can't remember pulling any pranks, or pissing anyone off in general, since his birthday.

"I swear, whatever it was, I didn't do it. _And_ I have the perfect alibi." He says, and he thinks that maybe he's said that once before, but he can't exactly remember: his brain has been all over the place lately, and it's a miracle if he even remembers his own name sometimes.

"I'm sure you would, were I accusing you of anything. I just… I want to ask what's wrong with Geni. I went to go see her today, because she let out the most awful of screams –"

"Is she okay? What happened?" He exclaims, worry clogging his every thought and action. She screamed? Pigeon doesn't scream for anything (except sex – she says she's a screamer) And she screamed today, without him there to help?

"She says she's fine, but I don't believe her. What… What happened, on the night of your birthday? I recall seeing her so distraught that day, but never asked what was wrong. Could you tell me?" The older man seems genuinely worried, and it causes the teenager to bite his lip.

He hasn't… Nobody knows about his birthday, except the people who were there. And even then, nobody really knows what the hell was going on. Even he doesn't really know much.

"I don't really know, Mr. Moseby. She and Maya were fighting, and… And basically, she said she'd never see me again. Geni, I mean. And she hasn't seen me, or anyone, since that day. Her roommate left today, and… I don't know, okay? She's been ignoring us all, and it's worrying. Not just for me, but for all of us." He says softly, not meeting the man's eyes, reliving his emotions all over again. She's not here. She's not talking to him. He might end up going his entire life without seeing her.

But… But what does he need her for? He and Maya are still together. They don't have any issues (that he'll bring up, anyway) and it's all going great for them.

So why does he miss Geni so much?

"Zack, I suggest you talk to her roommate if anything. She might know what's going on." Mr. Moseby suggests, and Zack nods. He isn't really registering the suggestion, not really, because he thinks he just saw her. Again.

"I'll try that out, Mr. Moseby. Thanks for some good advice. Best I've heard all week." He says softly, and his boss smiles tightly at him, worried about the boy he has watched grow. How badly this must be ailing him…

"Good luck with that, Zack." He says kindly, leaving to continue his job, that he is always saying he's married to.

Zack sighs, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand. He's seeing her everywhere, his Pigeon. It's getting crazy. Not like when he realized he was in love with Maya, where he saw her instead of the girl's faces. No, this is less intense. He just… He sees her. Standing there, like a mirage, smiling up at him with those pretty eyes.

God, he needs to talk to his girlfriend.

He turns his back to the sky deck, pulling out his phone to text her. He doesn't care if she's in class; he just needs to contact her. Even if she doesn't reply right away, she'd get to him whenever she could, he knows.

**Hey, babe. I miss you. We're docking in Barcelona in a few weeks, ya know.**

He hits send, and jumps when he hears a puppy's yip (familiar, he notes, but he can't exactly put his finger on it) from behind him and someone sitting at the juice counter (in the stool she always sits in)

"Excuse me, there are no dogs –"

He stops short, seeing the person sitting there and with a dog and biting her lip nervously and looking like death. A face he hasn't seen in a week.

"Pigeon."

It's a choked whisper out of his mouth, and he can see tears welling in her eyes before she closes them. She takes in a deep breath, opening her eyes and looking at him, sad smile on her face.

"Hey, Hero. C-can I have a raspberry smoothie? And some water for Pongo?" She asks, and he nods slowly, numbly, going to work.

How can she be so… So _normal_ about this? What the fuck? Is she trying to act like the entire last week didn't happen? Does she want to pretend his birthday was all a dream?

"We need to talk." He says to her as she pays for her drinks, letting Pongo lap away at the water from his perch on her lap. Zack looks at the girl who has been haunting his nightmares for an entire week (he'd dream about the worst things happening to her, all of them ending in her death or worse – him not knowing if she's dead) and she takes a sip of her smoothie, her face just… Just _lighting up_ so beautifully.

Ugh. Even after she worries him to near insanity like this, he still thinks she's lovely. His girlfriend will have his head for this.

"What's there to discuss? Your girlfriend hates me, my sister hates me – not that that's unusual, and you probably hate me as well, after what happened." She's purring and cooing, the way she does if she's sad, and is on the verge of tears. It's breaking his heart to see her like this, it really is.

"I don't hate you, Pigeon. I couldn't ever hate you. Maya, does, though. She says I'm not supposed to talk to you anymore." He tells her, and that pretty light she had in her eyes before disappears in an instant.

He misses it automatically.

"So why are you? Talking to me, I mean?" She asks him, confused, continuing to pet her dog and sup at her smoothie. Oh, god, she looks awful.

"Because she isn't here. Because I can't _not_ talk to you, Pigeon. We're friends. It wouldn't be right to just erase you from my life." He tells her, and she gasps. He figured she would, really. After all, he's hopelessly in love with Maya, and she knows he'd never risk it. And he didn't, really. She was alright with it, after a while.

"But you love her, Hero. You love her so much, why are you going to risk the heartache over me?" She asks softly, stirring the smoothie and tilting the cup back slowly for her dog. She's barely even breathing, he notices, as she awaits his response.

"We're friends, Pigeon. You know it, I know it, and I don't want to change that." He tells her simply, not faltering in his explanation. He didn't realize that before, not entirely, but he knows it's true as soon as the words leave his mouth.

"But Hero, I… I don't know if I can' do it anymore. Nothing's the same, and you know that, too." She murmurs, and he nods in understanding. He gets her, he does. He went through that whole awkward phase before he and Maya went out: the one where you both know how one feels about the other, but it hurts because those feelings aren't really reciprocated.

It hurts, but it's bearable.

"So? It's not like we weren't friends before. We can still be, Pigeon." He pleads, and she sighs, biting her lip, tugging at a lock of her hair. He has to force the muscles in his face to keep from smirking. He knows she's gonna give in; he knows how she is.

"What about Maya?" She asks skeptically, and he shakes his head. Reaching over, he pets the dog, grinning as the puppy licks at his fingers.

"She understands that we're friends. She trusts me. And she also admits to overreacting. What's your argument now, Pigeon?" He asks her, smirking outright now. She's got nowhere to turn.

"I suppose we're back to normal now, then." She smiles, and he nods in agreement. Finally. God, he's missed her.

"We are. So, are you free tonight, Pigeon? Because I have _Kick Ass_ on DVD, and I remember how you said you wanted to see it." He tells her, smiling, and she nods happily. He's so glad that she's smiling at him like that again, because she hasn't for so long and he's missed it more than he can truly comprehend.

"Totally, Hero! I wouldn't miss it!" She squeals, hugging him with one arm and holding her puppy with the other. He holds her tight, burying his face into her shoulder and trying to see if he can remember what she smells like: fruity perfume and ocean and cigarettes. Of course she's been smoking.

It makes him sad to know that she smoked so often because of him.

"I missed you, Hero. I really, really did." She murmurs into his neck, her arms around him, Pongo now on the floor (he hopped down from the seat, his lead around her wrist) as she holds him tight.

"I missed you too, Pigeon. I really did." He responds, giving her a squeeze before pulling away and looking at her. Like, _really_ looking at her.

She's so tired; he can see it in her eyes. But she's so happy, too. He feels this giant weight off his shoulders to see her smiling and bright, like nothing happened. But there's also something way back in her eyes, hidden behind the smile's gleam, that shows how scared she is of something going wrong.

"But that's not gonna happen anymore – missing each other isn't an option. Because from now on, we're not going to fight, or ignore anything, or keep secrets." She tells him, and he nods vigorously, in total agreement. It has to be like that. Look where secrets got them: missing each other, in utter turmoil.

"I'll see you later, okay, Hero? I have to go talk to Ms. T about catching up on my assignments and stuff." She tells him, kissing his cheek softly before leaving with her dog in tow. He watches her leave, heart swelling with joy.

He's glad to have her back.

* * *

**AN - THIS IS A BAD CHAPTER. I FEEL LIKE IT WAS TOO EASY. BUT I HAVE SOME STUFF PLANNED FOR BARCELONA, SO IT'S OKAY, RIGHT?**

**I think I should find a way to deactivate the CAPS button on this computer... I use it too much.**

**1. _Was_ this too easy - Zack and Geni's becoming friends again?  
2. Would anyone like to guess what happens in Barcelona?**

**Oh, and to the anon (can you tell I use tumblr?) reviewer under the alias 'that girl', WHO ARE YOU? Because that review was so wonderful. I want to thank you for telling me what you did, it was amazingly sweet and it means so much :) **


	8. can't get you outta my head

Lips crash together, hands fumbling on the door knob as they try and get into his room. His roommate will be gone for the night, not that they care, but it's a bonus.

She hisses as his hot skin (too hot to just be 'warm') collides against hers and he gasps. He kicks the door shut behind him as he continues to kiss her, clothes flying about his used-to-be clean room. Both of them are incredibly drunk and he's lonely and she's frustrated and they just need this right now.

He forgets that she's a screamer, kissing her harshly to cover it up. Boys and girls are rarely allowed on the same _deck_; let alone having sex like they are. It's better to let the people around them live in a fantasy world where everyone on deck is a virgin and they don't sneak around.

They collide, his name ringing off her lips and hers coming out through his teeth in a growl. Collapsing beside her, she looks at him and giggles when she sees the marks of her lipstick left all over his skin. He cocks an eyebrow at her, and she shakes her head.

"Nothing, Cody." She murmurs, yawning. She's incredibly sore, and she has no idea how she's going to leave right now. Not that she wants to, anyway. She'd rather stay for a while, just lying with the blond boy.

"Alright, Geni." He whispers, falling asleep slowly beside her, arms around her waist. She falls asleep a while later, her mind comparing the way his arms feel around her versus the way Hero's do.

She feels better in Hero's arms.

.0

The sun is rising, and she's slipping on her top, getting ready to leave. She combs her fingers through her hair, fixing her makeup and wiping the sleep from her eyes. Professor is still peacefully asleep on the bed, his back to her, and she stops for a moment, at the door, to look at him.

As she looks at him she wonders how people can ever confuse him for his brother. Hero and Professor have the same bone structure, same angles, same general features. But… But they're so _different_.

Hero is soft and rough and carefree and exciting; Professor is sharp and angular and smooth and calculating. Hero is cool and easy-going and likes to just let things happen; Professor is hot and fast-paced and needs to have a plan for everything.

She sneaks out of his room, her heels in her hand as she looks around for any security. She knows that only one or two will question her, a couple will let her slide, and one security guard in particular will ask her why she's wearing the same clothes as she was yesterday.

"Geni, what're you doing on deck so early? School doesn't start for another two hours. And why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?"

She stops in her tracks, mentally cursing Kirby out. Damn him.

"Uhm…" She tries to fabricate some kind of excuse, part of her brain giving Hero props for being able to do this on the spot. She looks at Kirby's questioning gaze, feeling so embarrassed. She should have left last night – how could she be so _stupid?_

It's not called the 'walk of shame' for nothing.

"I was with Cody." She says quietly, and Kirby cocks his eyebrow, still confused, asking what they were doing without words. Sighing heavily, she sticks out her leg to reveal the love bite on her inner thigh.

"Ohmygod." He breathes, looking up at her face in shock, then back to the hickey, then back to her, now red with embarrassment, face. Oh, God. What if he turns her in to Moseby?

"Kirby, please, don't –"

He's grinning now, and it slowly turns into a smirk. What? Isn't he angry with her, upset that she ruined his innocent image of her?

"I remember being in high school, doing the walk of shame once or twice, my girlfriend doing it, too. Go on, Geni. Just be careful, okay? Don't get caught." He tells her, and she thanks him before rushing to her cabin.

"Thank God for Kirby." She breathes, leaning against her door as she goes to shower.

She needs to clear her head, and find a way to explain to her friends why she wasn't around all night. Ohmygod, what if Professor shows off his hickeys? What if he tells everyone they had sex? She'll kill him, because Bumpkin will be _devastated_.

She gets out of the shower to find that she has another hour before she needs to be awake. She sighs, getting dressed and putting on her makeup to cover all the hickeys on her chest. She lies on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and heaving a sigh. Oh, when did she get so tired?

Closing her eyes, she feels her body succumb to sleep.

.0

He bites his lip, looking around for her. She had left so abruptly last night, and he has no idea to where she left. She's going to be late for school if she doesn't –

She bursts through the door, crossing the room to her seat in one fluid motion. She's glowing, from what he doesn't know, and she's… Avoiding him? She usually smiles at him when she first sees him in class, addresses him, and she didn't even look in his direction. What did he do?

"Pigeon, are you mad at me?" He whispers, and she shushes him, pointing discreetly to the front of the classroom. Oh, God, Pigeon. When has he ever cared?

He rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat with a heavy sigh. He'll get her to talk eventually; she doesn't keep secrets from him, and if she does, she always tells him sooner or later.

Class drags on, his mind barely registering anything the teacher says because all he can think about is the girl sitting in front of him. What happened? Why is she ignoring him? Did he upset her yesterday at that party? He had been pretty plastered, so maybe he said something stupid? But then again, she was shit-faced, too, so she wouldn't have gotten that mad, right?

But she is a girl, and girls tend to be emotionally unstable. He knows _that_ from experience.

He rests his chin in his hands, tapping at his temples with his fingertips. God, he wants to get out of here. He wants to be alone with Pigeon already, talk to her about yesterday, and just… Just be.

Sighing in relief when the lunch bell rings, he grabs her wrist and tugs her to him. She yelps when they collide, making him laugh.

"Hero! You're so brash. What's wrong?" She asks him, and he cocks his eyebrow at her as if to say that she knows just what's wrong. She should, really. Pigeon is a lot of things, but she isn't stupid.

"Where did you go last night? I didn't piss you off, did I? I know I got really trashed, but I don't remember saying anything to make you upset." He says, and she shakes her head, smiling. He can see the silent laughter in her eyes, masking guilt. What happened? He has to know.

"I got drunk, Hero. I went off, had a nice night with a boy, and did the walk of shame in the morning." She grins, and his eyes widen. He still has problems wrapping his mind around the fact that she isn't a virgin, when he so recently lost his own virginity.

Hey. He may be a player, but he doesn't sleep around. The farthest he's ever gotten is third base, okay? He is also fully aware that his brother swiped his V card before himself. Pfft. Whatever.

"Oh, really? Who was it?" He asks with a smirk, even though his insides are burning and his eyes are glowing and there's this big green rod stabbing every inch of him. Who the fuck did she sleep with so he can kill him?

He shoves the feelings aside, remembering his girlfriend. He does believe in relationships, he does he does he does. He has to.

"Hero, it was a coyote ugly situation. I never even asked for his name." She says, shrugging her shoulders, walking onto the sky deck with him and getting a bag of chips from the vending machine.

"Damn, sorry, Pigeon." He tells her, even though he isn't sorry at all. Hell to the no! He's glad the guy was ugly. Better he ugly than so good looking they start to date.

"Don't even worry about it. Hey, speaking of coyote ugly, I downloaded it on my laptop the other night. Wanna watch it with me this weekend?" She asks him, eating her chips and staring out into the ocean from her spot leaning on the railing. The sun hits her face at the most beautiful angle, creating this bright glow about her, almost like a halo.

"Sure, sounds like fun. Will you dress up like a coyote for me, maybe dance around and spray me with liquor?" He teases, pulling her close and sliding his hand up the front of her body, under her shirt and to her warm stomach flirtatiously. He won't do anything wrong; he knows that she knows it – he has boundaries.

"That's Maya's job, stupid." She giggles, gripping his wrist and pushing it off her. She bites her lip softly, wrapping her arms around his waist and sticking her hands in his back pockets.

"Yeah, but she isn't here. I need somebody to do it." He leans his face closer to hers, his fingers in the belt loop if her jeans. Her face lights up in a blush, making him smirk. He knows how she feels, sure, but she's just too damn cute to not tease.

"Hero, Hero stop. Don't mess with me, okay? I really love you, and I don't want to be pushed around. Besides, a few more seconds and I won't be held accountable for my actions." She murmurs, taking a few steps away from him and wiping her hands on her jeans roughly before walking away.

He runs a hand through his hair, rubbing at his eyes. Dammit. He's been teasing her on and off for the past couple weeks and it always ends the same way. She's not really upset, she just needs space.

"Pigeon, hey, come on. We gotta get back to class anyway." He says, grabbing her hand. She jerks it from his grip, walking back to class and ignoring him the whole way.

He stops at the corner before the classroom, turning around and walking back to his room. He doesn't feel like being in class right now. Not anymore.

He goes back to his room, locking the door and sitting on his bed. He really, really has some thinking to do.

.0

She laughs, feeling the warm sun on her skin and the cool water on her feet as the waves roll back and forth. It's been so long since she's been to a beach, and not just sitting over the water, but a _real_ beach, and it feels good: the sand between her toes, the sea breeze whipping her hair around, the smell of sunscreen everywhere, all of it.

"God, I love the beach!" She screams, twirling around with her arms spread eagle and her head thrown back, a wide smile on her face.

"Geni, c'mon, you're causing a scene!" Bumpkin laughs, grabbing her friend's hand and dragging her back to the towel. Geni plops down, laughing.

"Oye, bonita, ¿cuál es tu nombre?"

Geni looks up at the gorgeous Barcelona boy who just asked for her name, a small, coy smile playing her lips. He's kneeling in front of her, and she leans her face closer.

"Geni. ¿Y tú, cariño?" She responds, seeing him blush, a smirk now full blown on her face. She's so thankful she took Spanish in her old school.

"Mi nombre es Francisco. ¿Le gustaría ir a nadar?" He asks, gesturing to the water. She nods, smiling happily, getting up with him. She turns around quickly, winking at her friend, who bursts into laughter.

"¿Es ésta su primera vez en Barcelona?" He asks her as they wade in the ocean, and she nods. God, he has the most romantic voice… "¿Por qué decidió venir aquí?" He questions, and she bites her lip, trying to recall all the right phrases to answer him.

"Estoy aquí con mi escuela. Viajamos por todo el mundo, y se acopló hoy en Barcelona. Nos vamos ahora mismo, pero yo no voy a pasar mucho tiempo en la playa. Mucho que aprender." She responds, and he nods in understanding. She mentally sighs in relief, knowing she didn't butcher it. Thank god. He's too cute to think she's stupid.

"Entonces, ¿cómo sobre usted disfrute de su tiempo mientras que usted puede?" He flirts with her, shameless, and she chuckles.

"Por supuesto."

.0

He glares at the boy with Pigeon, clenching his fists under the table. What the hell is she doing with some random guy from Barcelona? He's got jerk-ass-player written all over his fucking face!

He rubs his forehead, remembering what he did in his room, what he thought about. He refuses to believe it, though; he can't believe it. It's impossible. He won't act on it, he just won't.

"Zack, wake up!"

He jumps when his brother's ex girlfriend snaps her fingers in front of his face. God, he remembers her being blunt, but that was just plain rude.

"What, Bails?" He asks her, and she smirks, hands on her hips. She looks like she's made some grand discovery of something, like she just proved the existence of life on Pluto or something. Either that or she's just won a bet.

"You were staring at Geni and Francisco." She says, crossing her arms, and he shakes his head furiously. No. He can't let other people in on this. It'll just make it harder for him to deny it.

"No I wasn't, Bails. Why would I waste my time doing that?" He asks her, and she shrugs, sitting down across from him as she stares at the girl as well, with her good looking Spanish friend, as she laughs at something he said.

"Because you're jealous. I can see it in your eyes, Zack – they're burning green." Bailey tells him, and he scoffs, giving her his classic Zack indifference.

But his palms are sweating and his tongue is dry and there's a lump in his throat.

"Why would I be jealous? I'm dating Maya, remember?" He says, fighting his voice to remain even. Oh, God, he can't do this right now. He needs more time to lie to himself; to convince himself that his conclusion was wrong and will always be wrong (as in _incorrect_, not to say it isn't the right _thing_)

"Why you're jealous, I don't know. That's something you have to explain for yourself." Bailey tells him, leaving to go be with her friend, letting Zack alone to his thoughts.

Fuck.

"Whatever. She's crazy. I'm not jealous." He grumbles to himself; hand over his mouth to ensure that nobody hears it, his eyes closing for a moment.

He sighs heavily, opening them an instant later when he hears someone approach him. Pigeon. And the Spanish tool.

"Hero, hey, I know we made plans tonight, but…" She trails off, biting her lip nervously, and he exhales slowly. Oh fuck to the no. She isn't blowing him off for… For _this guy?_

"It's fine." He says, forcing the words out of his mouth. Oh, God, Pigeon, it is _not_ fine! How could she even believe that for a second? Is she _high_?

"Thanks, Hero! I promise to make it up to you." She smiles, kissing his cheek sloppily before walking away with the other guy, yapping about with him as though Spanish were her native tongue.

It makes him sick.

* * *

**AN - Kirby is OOC? Pfft. He is, at best, in his late thirties. By that time, you will have suffered the walk of shame at least ONCE in your life.**

**1. Did the beginning shock you? Did you expect it to be anyone but who it was?  
2. How do you think this will affect the story? Or do you think it's something I just threw in because I felt like making someone's skin crawl?**


	9. baby it's cold outside

She pouts, crossing her arms, her sour attitude evident not only in her face, but in her body language. Mostly, though, it's in her pretty eyes.

"C'mon, Pigeon. It's not that bad." He croons to her, attempting to pull her from her room. He winces as his skin touches hers, though she knows she wasn't supposed to see it. She also knows it's because her skin, that he always tells her is so warm, has lost some of that warmth. She's cold.

"Hell to the _fuck no_, Hero! It's freezing out there! You know how much I hate the cold!" She whines, steadfast on her bed, sitting criss-cross-applesauce. She's never dealt with the cold, and it's always made her feel like she's going to die.

Funny, she muses, how she says she hates the cold when, if she had to choose between the heat of his brother's skin to the coolness of Hero's, she'd choose his in a heartbeat. Love is funny that way, she supposes.

"But there's hot chocolate. And Ms. T said we're reading _Catcher in the Rye_ today. You know how much you love that book. C'mon, Pigeon." He urges, almost desperate as he reaches for her hand. She flinches back from his touch, turning her head away and staring at the snow that outlines her porthole. She's allergic to snow, thank you very much, and will be remaining inside her cabin for the duration of their stay in Greenland.

Fucking Greenland covered in goddamn ice.

"Absolutely not. I don't care. I hate the cold." She is adamant, finality in her tone. She sees him roll his eyes, rolling her own in response as she says, "Excuse me, Hero. Not all of us hail from the city of Boston, where it snows like no damn tomorrow in the winter. I'm not going out there in the snow."

She can hear him sighing, for her eyes are shut, and she imagines him rubbing his eyes and running his hands through his hair in frustration. She's childish, she knows, and she can't change it. She won't.

"God, Pigeon. You're making this so much harder than it has to be, okay? Besides, Cody says he needs to talk to you about something. God only knows what it could be. So get your ass outta the bed and put some clothes on. And how in all of hell do you keep getting my shirts?" He asks her, making her laugh. It's perfect, because it hides her worry.

Professor wants to talk. They haven't talked, like _really_ talked, since they had sex. What could he want?

"I have my ways, Hero. Now leave. I'll be out in a few minutes." She smiles, getting up and shoving him (gently) out of her room.

"Pushy, pushy! I'm goin, Pigeon, god!" He exclaims, laughter bubbling in his voice, and she rolls her eyes, a soft smile on her face. He's so silly, she thinks, but it makes her love him all the more.

.0

"Gen, hey. Zack got you to leave your cabin, thank God. Look, I – oh. You look really… _Uncomfortable._" Professor is awkward, and she's tempted to just leave. Bro, seriously? She's pissed.

"If you just called me to insult me, I'll be going inside now. I'm fucking freezing out here." She chatters, feeling her nose go slightly numb. Fuck, what does he want? Can they go back to Spain now? It had been so warm in Spain. And she had a nice boy there, too; a pretty boy who made her laugh. Can she have him back?

"No, Gen, I really want to talk to you about what happened between us." He says, and she flinches.

She was expecting this, really, she was. But the reality of what happens makes her cringe. It gives her a headache and she feels guilty and sick and sorry all at once.

So, she decides to deflect all of this with anger as she tells Professor coldly, "It was nothing but a drunken hook up. You and I hadn't gotten off in a while, didn't comprehend what was going on, and did what normal teenagers would do: gave into hormones. It's simple as that."

He remains poker faced, but she can see the hurt painted in his baby blue eyes. It almost makes her feel bad.

But everyone has to face reality some time. And reality isn't always pretty.

"Alright. If that's all you have to say." He breathes, sucking in air through his teeth awkwardly. He follows her into the classroom, stopping in front of her desk where she does.

"Did you want to add something? Because please, I'd be love to hear it." She tells him, crossing her arms as she leans against her desk, tapping her nails against the desk, the gentle and steady rapping sound calming her nerves. She almost wishes Hero would come over and put his hand over hers, crooning to her to calm down like he does.

But the bigger part of her doesn't want Hero to know about the whole thing. It'd kill him to know that she slept with his brother and never told him.

"I think we slept with each other because… Because we remind the other of who we want" I want Bailey, and you want my brother. Please tell me that makes sense?" He phrases it as more of a question, looking hopefully at her for approval. Odd, because he usually sticks to his theories; stubborn as a mule, like his brother.

That realization hits her like a truck. She had been so busy trying to bury the regret of what she did that she accepted the first logical explanation that came to her.

"I… I never thought about it like that. I mean, maybe the idea crossed my mind once or twice, vaguely, but I never really stuck with it." She says softly, not looking up at him. Instead, she traces the pattern on her laptop, hoping that Hero will come and steal her away from this; ditch class with her so they can curl up under blankets and relax, drinking hot chocolate and telling stories.

"I'm not saying that I didn't _enjoy_ the sex, Gen. I did. It was great." He stumbles over his works, face beet red, making her laugh and smirk at him, covering her mouth so that she doesn't draw attention to herself. He almost smiles, but she can tell he's too embarrassed.

"It really was great sex, Professor. I was sore for days." She winces playfully, watching his face turn even redder than before. She smirks still, a breathy chuckle passing her lips. He's cute, he is. But she doesn't love him like that, as easy as it would be.

"Geni, Cody, class is starting." Ms. T says, causing the two students to jump and take their respective seats. She ignores the breath on her ear when she sits, goose bumps shooting all over her body.

Hero's trying to get her attention.

She discreetly swats at his face, muffling her giggle by biting her lips. He grins against her fingertips, and apiece of paper lands on her desk.

**So, Pigeon, what were you and my brother talking about?**

She smiles at his attempt to stay old school and pass her notes instead of just texting her. Her smile turns into a grin as she decides that hey, she might as well humor him.

**Oh, nothing, Hero. It's no use getting worry lines over it.**

She holds the paper at her side, motioning for him to take it. She lets go when she feels his cool fingers brush against hers.

She sighs.

**Really? Didn't seem like nothing when you snapped at him.**

She grimaces, the reality of how she acted fully settling on her. She had been a huge bitch, she really had. Professor is probably so upset with her.

**Trust me, Hero, it was no big deal. You really don't need to worry about it.**

She bites her lip, worrying herself, and then shakes her head slightly. It's none of his business, her life outside of him. He should be able to take a hint, anyway. It's not like she keeps secrets from him for long, anyway; she's bound to tell him sooner or later.

Oh, god, she hopes it's later.

**Pigeon, if you don't want to tell me, just say so. Quit all this sugar-coating bullshit.**

She sighs, pushing her hair back from her face and under her hood as she ponders her answer. Should she just tell him to back off? It would be a good thing to do, really; it could also piss him off and cause him to not speak to her. That's a risk she really doesn't want to take.

She quickly scribbles down an answer and, asking if she can go to the bathroom, up and leaves. Nobody notices that her bag is on her shoulder, and she's sure nobody will notice that she doesn't come back. She easily sneaks to the highest deck on the ship, not daring to look down at the water she so desperately wants to surf in.

The water she hasn't missed until now.

.0

He glares at the small scrap of paper with their notes on it, her pen a dark black and his a deep blue. He didn't expect her final response, not at all.

**I don't think I should tell you.**

She's keeping something from him, and it involves his twin. He has a right to be involved, doesn't he? After all, he shares DNA with the guy for goodness sake!

If Pigeon won't tell him, Cody will. Even if he has to scare the answer out. Which he is perfectly capable of doing. And willing.

"Codester, hey, could you help me out?" He slyly walks over to his brother after class, wondering just where the fuck Pigeon went, because she most certainly isn't in any damn bathroom.

"Zack, hey. What's wrong?" His brother cocks an eyebrow suspicious. Not that Zack can blame him, he doesn't exactly have the best history with his baby brother.

"You and Pigeon are keeping something from me. And I want to know what it is. No, I _deserve_ to know." He says, and watches his twins blue eyes widen almost imperceptibly. The young one is almost as good at hiding facial expressions as he himself.

Only almost, though.

"It's not my place to tell you." His brother says, stoic, and Zack scoffs.

"Like hell it isn't, Cody. You're my _twin_. We don't keep secrets from each other." He snaps in exasperation, running a hand through his hair and down his face, rubbing his eyes. He's trying to keep himself from doing something he'l regret, like grab his brother by the collar of his damn polo shirt and force the answer out of him.

Which he isn't contemplating at this very moment. Nope, not at all.

"Look, Zack, it's up to Geni, not me. And if she won't tell you, neither will I." His brother tells him simply, and Zack growls.

Damn. Just the answer he didn't want.

"Do you know where Pigeon is right now, then, so I can ask her again?" He asks through clenched teeth, his hands curling into fists at his sides. When he gets his hands on Pigeon…

Oh, please. He couldn't ever hurt her, no matter how angry he is with her. He should know that by now.

"Not sure. She ditched, remember? Tutweiler is going to have her head for that one. Well, maybe not," Cody muses, and Zack looks confused, so he continues, "Geni knows how to talk herself out of anything. All she has to do is pout her lips and bat her eyelashes and look pretty, cooing pretty words, and you're a goner."

Zack wants to wring his baby brother's neck. How… How _dare_ his brother talk about her that way, like she's some kind of dime store hussy (he makes a mental note to thank Pigeon for teaching him that word. When he finds her.)

The incredulous, angry thought catches Zack off guard. Why is it so important to him? He has a girlfriend, doesn't he? An amazing and wonderful and beautiful girlfriend.

"Hey, Zack, man, are you okay? You look ready to kill something." His brother attempts to place a hand on his shoulder, but the older twin flinches back.

If Pigeon were here, she'd be telling him to calm down. She'd be pushing his hair away from his face and telling him to calm down; that everything will be okay if he just takes a deep breath and counts to ten.

But Pigeon isn't here.

"Whatever, man. So you don't know where she is?" He asks again, and his brother shakes his head.

Zack leaves, going to look for her. He has to talk to her, has to figure out what she's keeping from him, before it eats him alive.

.0

He sighs heavily, looking for her everywhere he can think of: her cabin, the underage bar, the _regular_ bar, the fiesta deck, Bailey's cabin, the classroom, Cody's cabin, _his_ cabin…

He can practically hear the light bulb go off over his head, running to the uppermost deck of the ship. He remembers her saying that she comes up here if she wants to get away from everyone and not be annoyed.

She's there, sitting down against the railing, staring out at the icy water. The glow of the setting sun makes her look like she's on fire, even though she's probably freezing cold.

"Pigeon."

She jumps out of her skin, and he almost chuckles because wow, she's really cute.

"Hero! By god, you almost gave me a heart attack!" She chastises jokingly, but her smile fades quickly. She must see the serious look on his face. "Is something wrong?" She asks, and he shrugs.

Oh, god, he must've looked like such a douche bag now, after that.

"I don't know, Pigeon, you tell me. You and my brother, my _twin, _are keeping something from me, and neither of you are willing to tell. Now, I don't know about you, but yeah, something definitely isn't _right_ with that picture."

His tone foes from forced nonchalance to dripping venom in a matter of moments. He can see her flinch back from him, but it's like someone has taken over his body, and he doesn't even _want _to apologize to her.

"Hero, I told you before: I don't think I should tell you. It isn't something you need to know." She tells him, and he can feel her growing anger; feel the tension being created between them. And suddenly, he sees her in a whole new light.

She's glowing. And flaring. And beautiful.

But he's still angry with her.

"The hell I don't. If it involves my best friend and my twin, it's my right to know just what the fuck is going on. Now tell me, Pigeon. And not some bullshit excuse, tell me the truth." He growls, clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth. What the hell? Why can't she just tell him; what did she do that was so bad? It isn't like she and Cody…

He shakes the thought from his head. They'd never keep that from him. Not him of all people.

Right?

"Hero, look, I just don't want –"

"God, Pigeon, enough! Just tell me what it is! I'm a big boy, remember? You don't have to shelter me; I can handle it." He says persistently, trying so hard to get her to talk. God, why won't she tell him? It's eating him alive to not know.

"Hero, you don't give up, do you?" She sighs in annoyance, and he can see her set her jaw and grit her teeth.

Oh, please. _She's_ annoyed? Does she have no idea how it feels for people to be keeping secrets? Especially people as close to him as they are: brother and best friend, after all.

"Do you really want to know what happened? You're one-hundred percent positive that's what you want?" She asks, voice tighter and, if he isn't mistaken, louder.

"Yes! My god, just fucking tell me!" He shouts, and he looks him dead in the eye, face entirely serious. He has no idea what to expect, but he has a sudden feeling in his guy that it won't be good. Why did he try so hard to get her to tell, again? He doesn't remember.

"I had sex with your brother, okay? Me and Cody slept together! Is that what you wanted me to tell you, Zack? Because that's what happened! And you better be satisfied with that!"

She was screaming in his face and pissed off with him. He can hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes. But that barely even registers with him, because her words are settling in.

She _slept_ with Cody. She _slept_ with _Cody_. _She slept_ with _Cody_.

_She. Slept. With. Cody._

"What? But… But whe –" He cuts himself off, question answering itself in his head.

"That 'coyote ugly' thing, it wasn't some random guy. It was _my brother_ And you didn't tell me. Why didn't you tell me? I'll kill him, I swear I will! How the fuck could you guys think it was okay for you to do that?"

He's seeing red, he swears it, even though his eyes are burning the brightest green. His brother is dead, that's the end of it.

"Fuck, Zack," He flinches back at her use of his name – she's never actually used his real name before, and it sounds strange coming out of her mouth, "_This_ is why I didn't tell you! Don't you even _dare_ hurt Cody, you hear me? Because I'm just as much as fault as he is. You hurt him, you're gonna have to hurt me." She snaps, shoving at him to hold him still.

She barely does anything, her small frame against is evidently larger one. But he does stumble back a little, partly to humor her, and partly because she freaked him out a little.

She's a beauty when she's mad…

"Dammit, Geni," She winces at his use of her name, "I don't care! You should have told me! Maybe if you had told me before I wouldn't be so fucking mad!" He screams, and she glares at him. Her eyes, usually a warm and soft blue, are cold and hard.

She's angry.

Good.

"Zack, that's a goddamn lie and you know it! You would've been just as fucking pissed as you are now. God, it's like dealing with my father! I have sex, okay? You don't get to say who it's with, because you aren't me!" She yells at him, waving her hands about, seething.

"But why with my brother? Of all people, my _brother?_" He yells right back, pointing at himself as he does so.

He's angry, god he's so _fucking_ angry, that he isn't even really paying attention to what she's saying anymore. It's all a rough pounding in his ears, his hands clenched into fists as she yells at him. She's screaming about one thing or another, he really doesn't even care, because it's not even important.

It's not important because oh, wait just one moment, she's really pretty right now. She's probably so angry that she's warm again, and he can feel his own anger fading quickly as she continues to defuse.

And as she's screaming at him, venting about god knows what, he, Zackary Thomas Martin, boyfriend to Maya Bennett, does the unthinkable:

He kisses Geni Tate under the stars on a cold night at the start of winter, just as the snow begins to fall.

* * *

**AN - Show of hands: Who was expecting _that? _And please, be entirely honest. It's okay if you didn't. Even though I did.**

**1. How horrible was that? Be sincere. I like to know where I can improve, I really do.  
****2. Predictions/expectations/comments and-or concerns? **

**And ANGELIQUE. IF YOU COMMENT ABOUT MADDIE ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL SICK SUAREZ ON YOU.**


	10. help, i need somebody

His arms wrap around her as he pulls her close, his tongue daring to invade her mouth.

He's kissing her. He's fucking kissing her. Oh, god, she's been waiting for this for so long.

His hair is silky between her fingers and his lips are soft against her own and the kiss is hot and passionate and smooth and silky and so very _them: _natural and easy and so very _right_.

It scares her.

The fear, however, is buried far beneath everything as she kisses him back. She's been waiting, wishing for him to kiss her, to love her back; and, even though he might not love her, he's kissing her, and one out of two really isn't that bad right now.

He's a really, really good kisser.

He comes to his senses, though, just as she lets out a little moan, pulling away and stammering and blushing and just plain freaking out.

"Oh, god, I can't – Maya's going to – Cody will – I'm going to – Geni, I'm _so sorry._"

She looks at him; she really looks at him, her heart hammering in her chest, her fingertips on her warm lips, and all that warmth from before fading away. His silky blond hair, his cherry drop lips, his freckles, his fathomless green eyes… His everything. And she realizes that he's perfect, and she isn't at all, and she shouldn't have him.

She really, really shouldn't have him. He's happy with Maya, so happy with her, and she has no right to break him like that, to ruin that happiness.

"It's alright, Hero." She doesn't miss the fact that he called her by her name, but she doesn't mention it. She doesn't want to start another fight, even though she honestly can't remember what they had been fighting about in the first place.

"But still, I shouldn't have –"

"Hero, calm down. It's not a big deal, I promise. It was a heat of the moment things – never apologize for those. And, if you want, I can even tell your girlfriend that _I_ kissed _you_, since she already hates me and all." She shrugs, and he shakes his head. She really does love the way his hair flops around when he does that.

"No, you won't. This is my mess; I'll clean it up, okay?" He sighs, and she shrugs again. If he wants to do it alone, she'll let him. She can't make his decisions for him, can't tell him what to do. Just because she loves him, that really doesn't mean anything.

Her heart clenches at the thought of that, because it's true. Her love is meaningless to him, because he's already head over heels in love with someone else. He already has his princess; it isn't her, and it won't _ever_ _be _her. She loves him, passionately and ardently and fully, but he doesn't love her. And every time she thinks of that, a little piece of her heart breaks.

It's a wonder she has any pieces left.

"Hey, just… Just know I'm here, okay? If things don't go alright, I'm gonna be right here for you – I promise." She purrs and coos, her heart crumbling beneath her chest. She really wishes he loved her. Maybe if he loved her, things would be easier.

But he's happy with Maya. And all she wants is for him to be happy.

"I know." He breathes, taking her hand and starting to walk down the staircase that leads up to where they are. All the warmth from before, it's gone, and she's so cold. She really does hate the cold.

"I gotta go do some stuff, okay?" She purrs, taking her hand back when they get to the sky deck, walking to her cabin. She doesn't have to do anything, it was an outright lie. She just doesn't want to be around him right now. Not while he's breaking her heart.

She lays on her bed, staring at her ceiling, listening to classical music on her little radio. She sighs heavily, wondering what Hero's doing, how he feels about her, and where they're going to go from here.

Gently, with her fingertips, she touches her lips.

Still warm.

.0

He's so worried it isn't even funny. They're in… He doesn't even know what country they're in right now, only that it's warm again and that means that she should be happy. But, of course, he wouldn't really know. Because she hasn't spoken to him, not really, since he kissed her. He's worried he pushed her away for good this time. And oh, god, he'll just die if that happened. He wouldn't be able to handle her not being in his life.

But… But why does it even matter? Isn't he supposed to have a girlfriend? A girlfriend he loves so much, so passionately and fully, that this girl, this pretty little Australian girl is making him forget that girlfriend entirely.

"I need advice. I need to go to a girl. A smart girl. A girl who will know what to do." He says to himself, flipping through his **Skype** contacts. The advice he needs isn't something that he can do over just the phone. He needs face-to-face interaction, as weird as that sounds.

He smiles when he finds who he's looking for, and that she's online, clicking 'call'.

"Hey, Zack! It's been way too long!"

"Maddie, hey. How are you, how's school?" He asks her, smiling. Last time he saw her, she was a blond. Now her hair is a dark brown, like Maya's, only… Only it looks so _Maddie_.

"I'm good, Zack, school's good. I love my classes and stuff – we're getting experience from the actual people who've been doing this for years. I can't tell you how amazing it is." She's smiling brightly at him, and he can't help but smile back. He remembers now, why he was so infatuated with her. She's wonderful. But she isn't… She isn't what he needs.

"I'm so glad you're happy, Sweet Thang." He smirks, and she laughs at the old pet name he had for her. He's missed the college girl, and he can't wait to visit home one day to see her.

"I've missed that, I really have. So, how's life with you? What's it like to be travelling? I hope you're keeping your grades up?" She spits the questions out in such a Maddie life fashion; he can't help the smile on his face.

"It's great, it really us. I love travelling so much, I've always dreamed of seeing the world. And my grades are fine, Maddie. But, uhm… I need advice." He chokes out, unable to really say it. This is _Maddie_ for God's sake, and he's never really needed her help or anyone's help (that he'll admit) for that matter. So this is awkward for him, it really is.

"What's up, then? I've got plenty of time." She smiles sweetly, sympathetically, and he's reminded of the old times where he could just go downstairs, to the lobby, and walk up to her candy counter and talk to her.

Heaving a heavy sigh, he launches into the tale of his everything that's happened since she was on the boat. Cody and Bailey getting together, Marcus, his gorgeous and perfect girlfriend, and then the beautiful new Aussie that he calls 'Pigeon'. Everything.

"Whoa, Zack. Back up. _You_ have a _girlfriend?_ I never thought I'd see the day." She teases, and he rolls his eyes. Hasn't he heard that joke enough? First his mother, then his father, then his brother and pretty much everyone.

"Yes, Maddie. I have a girlfriend. And I love her, I'm sure of it. But Pigeon… I don't know, okay? I need help." He sighs, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand and running his hand through his hair. He's tired, suddenly, and frustrated and God, he just needs Pigeon.

"Well, Zack, I think you know the answer to this one. You don't need my help here." She tells him, pushing her hair from her face. Oh, yeah. He forgot to ask her when and why she dyed it.

"No I don't, Maddie! That's why I need help!" He groans, face in his hands. What the hell? If he knew what he needed to do, he wouldn't have called her! Ugh. Women.

"C'mon, Zack. I know you. You know what you have to do; you just need to think about it. And I mean really think. Oh, man, gotta go. I've got a date in less than an hour. Bye, Zack! I love you, and I hope we can talk soon!" She blows him a kiss, and he bids her goodbye before signing off.

What the _fuck _is he supposed to do? He has no idea how to fix this. If he tells Maya about the kiss, he's sure to get dumped. Which would not be a good thing. Maddie told him to think, right? Well, what's stopping him?

He lays back on his bed, closes his eyes, and begins to think.

.0

She bites her lip, thankful that it's warm again wherever they are, as she walks onto the sky deck. Her heart gives a pang, because she usually comes out with Pongo. But, after that one time he was left with Ivonna, he's off to live with her. It seemed that puppy wasn't exactly as puppy as she thought, and now he's a doggy-daddy.

She doesn't see Hero at the smoothie bar, but she sees Professor at the towel station. Good enough.

"Hey, Professor. How's life folding towels?" She asks him with a smile, and he gives her this look like '_The **fuck?**_'

"It's not fun. I hate my job." He deadpans, and she pouts playfully, sympathetically patting his shoulder. He sarcastically smiles at her, and she, once again, appreciates his usage of sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, Professor. You know, it's not like people have sex and clean it with the towels. Ohmygod, they don't do that, right?" She asks him, and he shakes his head, thanking God that no, they don't do that, and it isn't like he hasn't thanked God for it before, because people are actually humane every once and a while.

"Anyways, a lovely change of subject: I heard Bumpkin was asking for you. Something about a boy rat having babies with a girl mouse? I don't know. She and Kirby were flipping a fuck and a half." She comments, and his blue eyes go wide.

"Buck's a father? Ohmygod, I have to go!" He squeals, running off to find Bumpkin. She cocks her eyebrow, chuckling in his direction. Professor is so… So animated. She can't really think of another word for him. Another nice word, at least.

"Ohmygod, Geni, get over here!"

Oh, no. It's the diamond-dunce. Someone just throw her overboard now.

"What, London?" She breathes in annoyance, walking over to the girl. Oh, god. She's blinded by all the sequins and sparkles and gems. Does this girl not know the meaning of 'subtle'?

"I was just wondering if I could borrow your shirt. I need something shine my diamonds with." The heiress says, grinning like it's no big deal.

"No, London. I like this shirt." She replies simply, and the heiress bounces away, her heels clacking. Lord, will she ever be free of the airhead? She hopes so.

"Pigeon, hey, can we talk?"

She jumps, and tries to make a run for it. She's been practically avoiding Hero since Greenland. She really, really doesn't know what to do with him right now. And it scares her.

"Sure, I guess? What's wrong?" She asks him, forcing her voice to stay even. She can feel the nervousness tightening her throat. It's not fun.

"In private." He says simply, grabbing her hand and taking her with him to his cabin. He closes the door, and she bites her lip. She doesn't want to be here. Nope, not at all. She's genuinely afraid of what he'll say, what she'll say, and anything that could break them even more.

"What's the matter, Hero?" She asks him, sitting on his bed, attempting to act innocent. She pushes her hair from her face and over her shoulder, attempting to not look nervous. She doesn't think it's working, though, because Hero's looking at her like '_Uh, what? You know._'

"You're avoiding me, Pigeon." He tells her point blank, sitting beside her, and she laughs nervously.

"I'm not _avoiding_ you, Hero! What would give you that idea?" She squeaks, and clears her throat so it doesn't do that anymore. Pfft. She isn't nervous. Genevieve Alexandra Tate doesn't get nervous. She just doesn't.

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter, Geni. I'm not stupid. What happened?" He asks her, and she sighs heavily. She can't keep anything from him, no matter how hard she tries. She'd eventually tell him, so what's the point of even trying?

"You kissed me." She purrs and coos and wrings her hands, not looking him in the eye. She can't bear it. He's probably so mad at her, he really is. She's been avoiding him, and she's been smoking a lot, too. He always gets upset when she smokes a lot.

"Pigeon, is that it? You're upset because I kissed you? Why didn't you tell me?" He asks her gently, trying to get her to look at him. If she looks at him, she'll need a cigarette, she just knows it. It's not fun; having to look at the person you're so in love with and need to _smoke_.

"Because… Because I don't know. But I really don't like this, okay? I just don't." She spurts, and covers her mouth automatically. Dammit. Now he's going to ask another question she doesn't have an answer to.

Well, she does, depending on what question he asks.

"Don't like what? That I'm with Maya, and not you?" He asks her, incredulous, and she can see him getting angry. Oh, god, she had been hoping it wasn't going to come to an argument. This is why she's been avoiding him.

"No, that isn't it, I promise! I don't like… I don't like looking at you and feeling _pain_, okay? I look at you, and I need to go smoke a cigarette because it hurts, okay? It hurts me like you wouldn't believe that you love her, you love her so much, and that's how I feel about you, and you know, and… And it doesn't mean anything to you. It hurts me that my feelings don't mean _anything_ to you, when they mean _everything_ to me."

She's got tears in her eyes, but she refuses to cry. Not gonna happen. She's cried enough this year to keep her eyes dry for years. But the way he's looking at her, like she's just kicked his frigging puppy or something with his eyes wide and his lips pouting and he's so _sorry_, she can read it in his eyes, it's breaking her heart.

"Pigeon, ohmygod. That isn't… I never meant for that to happen. I'm sorry." He breathes, pulling her close. She shoves him back, shaking her head. She isn't going to fall into this… Whatever it is they are. She can't. She _won't_.

"No, Hero. I'm not… I know that wasn't ever what you intended, but that's what happened, okay? And it sucks, alright? And… And I don't think I can be around you anymore." She says, so softly even she could barely hear herself. But he heard it, she can tell.

He's shaking his head furiously, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He's telling her no, over and over, that she can't do this to him, leave him like this; she's his best friend, dammit, and best friends don't do that to each other. She can't leave him, he says, she just can't.

"Zack, I –"

"Call me 'Hero'. You always call me 'Hero'. Please, Pigeon, you can't do this to me. You can't leave me like this. We're best friends, you can't." He's begging now, and it's shattering her heart into a thousand pieces to see him like this. Oh, God, why can't she just say yes? Why can't she just be his best friend, be his Pigeon? Why does she have to be selfish?

"Zack, stop. Go call Maya. Go tell her she's the whole world to you; tell her how much you miss her; tell her you love her, okay? It'll be good for you." She purrs and coos, feeling her throat clench as she spits the words out. Ohmygod, what is she doing to herself? Does she have a death wish? That's got to be it, with what she's telling him to do.

"But that's just it, Pigeon!" He exclaims, and she feels something twinge in her. It's hope, she realizes, at the words that just shot from his mouth. Hope for…

No. She can't. She's already gotten her hopes up for that, and she refuses to let them be crashed down ever again.

"What, Zack?" She asks, forcing the silly, frivolous notion called 'hope' down, way down, into her. She refuses to let it out. She doesn't need the pain that comes with it having to be forced back in. Better to force it down before it gets the chance to see light, right? I mean, it's worked for her plenty of times before.

"I love _you_, not Maya."

* * *

**AN - THIS IS AWFUL. I CANNOT FUCKING EVEN. LIKE, I HATE THIS SO MUCH. UGH. Also, on a sad note: There's only like, one or tow chapters left. Three max. If anyone has any ideas for a new story, hit me up, and I'll credit you?**

**1. How horrible was that? Be sincere. I like to know where I can improve, I really do.  
****2. Predictions/expectations/comments and-or concerns? **

**And ANGELIQUE. DID YOU LIKE THE MADDIE THING? BECAUSE I SWEAR TO JESUS GODDAMN CHRIST, IF YOU DIDN'T, I'LL KILL YOU.**


	11. and they lived happily ever after

He did not just say that. Ohmygod, he did _not_ just say that.

"You… You _what?_ Ohmygod, Zack –"

"God, Pigeon, call me Hero. You always call me Hero." He begs, grabbing her hands and staring right into her eyes.

She can see so many emotions in his eyes, in those lovely green eyes that she's been in love with from the start. It's shattering her heart into a million pieces because she can _see_ the love in them, in the look he's giving her.

That look, oh, god that look. She's seen it so many times – when he looks at Maya, when Professor and Bumpkin look at each other, and she's even seen it in her own eyes, if people will take a candid picture of her (which they have, much to her annoyance) and she's staring at him.

He really does love her. Oh, no. What has she done?

"You _can't_. You're supposed to love Maya, and live happily ever after with her! You can't go rewriting the fairy tale _now! _You'd be the worst prince in the history of the world, just abandoning his princess like this!"

She's rambling, and she's shouting, and she isn't making any fricken sense whatsoever, she knows it very well. She's just trying to find any reason, any reason at all, for him to not love her. She can't break up him and Maya – she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did.

"Pigeon, _she's_ the one who messed up this 'fairy tale'," The quotations around the phrase, though not used physically, are obviously implied and she wants to roll her eyes at him, "Not me."

"What?" She asks stupidly, her hyperventilating having ceased. Oh, joy. What kind of story is he going to come up with? Doesn't he know that she's impervious to his lies?

"She dumped me today. Today. Over the phone." His voice tightens, and she can see that yeah, this hurt him. A lot.

He loved (s?) Maya. She knows it. So why is he coming over and proclaiming his love for her? Doesn't that make her the rebound?

"But – But why me? Why am I the rebound? When you _know_ how I feel about you? Why would you do that to me?" She whimpers, her voice cracking.

What is this fuckery he's attempting to pull? Does he hate her or something? Why would he tell her such a lie, when he knows, he knows damn well, that she's in love with him?

And that if he tells her he loves her one more time; she'll probably believe it, too.

"Because, Pigeon, I did some thinking. Before Maya even called to dump me, I was already thinking. Actually, I'd been thinking about this for a while. But anyways, I've been thinking –"

"And look how well that train of thought seems to travel." She snorts, trying hard to change the subject. Even a fight would be better than this. Can't they go back to being friends? Sure, it hurt like hell, but it was better than whatever the fuck this is.

This hope that's she's let out.

"This is serious, Pigeon. I was thinking about _you_. About you, and how you make me feel, and why I feel that way, and what that means for me and just… Just about _you_ in general." He breathes, and her heart races.

This is no story. This is real. He does love her.

She can't let him.

"No, Zack. Stop it. Stop it right now. You are going to let me walk out of your cabin, you're going to look through the girls on your phone, and you're going to forget me. Because I refuse to do this to you." She says firmly; firmly because she's trying not to cry, not because of anything else. Oh, god. She really doesn't want to cry. Pushing him away is, will always be, the hardest thing she's got to do.

But she has to. For his sake, and her own.

If they get together, it's only a matter of time before they're not anymore. And what would that do to them as friends? She'd rather have him as a friend than not have him at all. He and Maya were supposed to last forever, and look what happened to them. She doesn't want that.

"Do what, Pigeon? Make me happy?" He asks, incredulous, and she can see tears in his eyes.

Oh, no. There goes her resolve.

"No, Zack! I want your happiness, that's all I'll ever want. But you and I won't last, I know it. Cody and Bailey didn't, you and Maya –"

"But we aren't them, Pigeon! We're something else entirely; don't you know that by now? We're not like any other couple because… Because we're better, okay? We're better because it's _us_ – and when we say forever, we mean it. Maya and I, we never promised forever."

His eyes are dry, if only slightly, and her cheeks are stained with tears. But he's so sincere, so absolutely perfect; she just wants to die right here. She loves him, she loves him so much. There's still one thing, though, that she needs to tell him. She's got to tell him this, or else.

"Bur Zack, we can't. A promise of forever would be useless either way." She murmurs, and he finally looks annoyed.

Oh, please. Does he have no idea what kind of _pain_ she's in, to be doing this to him?

"Why not?" He asks her in exasperation, and suddenly, she feels so small it isn't even funny. She doesn't want to tell him this, she really doesn't. But she's got to, if she wants to maintain her sanity.

"Because, Zack, I'm flying back to California next week. My parents signed me up to spend three years in Kenya, building schools and stuff. So, even if we were to begin, it'd only be a matter of time before we had to end."

She's said it, and yet she still doesn't feel better. If anything, she feels infinitely worse, because there's so much pain in his eyes it's breaking her even more.

This is all her sister's fault. Lou, the stupid bitch, just had to go and tell her parents where she was – or better said where she _wasn't_, which was that fancy boarding/Christian school she said she'd be at.

God she hates her sister.

"But… But why?" Why did they –"

"They found out that I'm here. Lou told them, the sniveling, jealous, evil little bitch." She sneers, he shakes his head.

"No. You're almost eighteen now, so you don't have to do it." He's looking for any way out, and it's absolutely killing her. Why can't he just let it be? It's hurting her so badly to see him like this.

Her Hero, her brave and strong and mighty _Hero_, all broken up and sad and scared like this. Because of her.

"I'm not eighteen _yet_. So I'd have to go anyway, until I _turn_ eighteen. And besides, if I leave, where do I go? I haven't got anyone besides my parents." She tells him, and he rolls his eyes. Rolls his eyes like he's got some kind of obvious answer and he really can't believe she didn't think of it.

"Why don't you stay with me?" He asks, and she shakes her head. Why's he being so persistent? She refuses to do this; refuses to be with him. He's never going to let up.

"No, Zack. I just can't, okay? The hope of that happening will only make it harder when I have to go. Stop prolonging the inevitable, please? Just face it: we're not meant to be."

That does it. She's crying now, sobs breaking past her lips and tears leaking over her eyelids. She can't even look at him; it's breaking her heart just to hear him _breathe_; ragged, shallow breaths, like he's sobbing.

"I have to go. I have to pack." She chokes out, shoving past him and making her way to her own cabin. She avoids any and all contact people try to make with her, ignoring anyone who dares call her name.

She doesn't pack when she gets to her cabin. Instead, she takes out a cigarette from her bedside table, grabs her liquor bottle from under the mattress, and numbs herself thrice over.

.0

He hasn't left his cabin all day. His heart is broken into a thousand and one tiny little pieces. Pieces that are scattered around his cabin, everywhere that she's been.

His bed(s). His bathroom. His closet. His _everything_. There isn't a single thing in this cabin that she hasn't touched.

Except the photos of he and Maya, the photos that he's burning right now, the flames dancing across the four walls he's surrounded by and painting lovely shadows.

Ohmygod, he needs Pigeon. Like, absolutely needs her more than anything right now. She's the only thing that can make him better; he knows it, because he loves her. Loves her so absolutely, so passionately, that it's the only logical explanation he can come up with for his current state: he loves her, and she won't have him, thus he's aching.

Pigeon loves him, he knows it. Which is the part that kills him most: he _knows_ how she feels, and he's letting her go. He knows the pain of rejection (he's felt it more times than he's willing to admit) but this… This is different.

He feels like his heart is being ripped from his chest and torn up by her warm, long fingers and she's just grinning at him with those beautiful eyes of hers.

"I need her. Now. I don't – I don't care what she's doing. I need to be around her." He tells himself, getting up and throwing on some clothes. He's determined to make her his, no matter what. He needs her, and that's that. There isn't a single doubt in his mind that he won't ever stop needing her, either.

Not that he wants to, obviously.

He walks to her cabin, head held high with determination written across his face. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to change his mind. He doesn't even bother to knock when he opens her door, and he finds her – oh, god.

He's caught her coming out of the shower. Oh how the tables have turned.

He mutters some form of apology, though he closes the door behind him and simply covers his eyes.

"What the fuck, Zack?" She screeches, but he can hear fabrics sliding against her silky skin.

"Because if I went back outside, you wouldn't have let me back in. Are you decent?" He asks, and she mutters a positive response. He uncovers his eyes, horrifically unprepared for this.

His lovely, wonderful, perfect, _sexy_ Pigeon wearing nothing but a pretty blue slip. It's barely past her mid-thigh, and her legs look like they're going on for days. Her damp hair curls a little at the bottoms as it sticks to her back and pools around her face. She looks so _pretty_, he thinks he might die.

Why is he here again?

"What do you want, Zack?" She mutters, sounding annoyed and upset, sitting with her legs crossed on her beds (she pushed them together like he had)

"To be frank, beautiful: _you_. Never in my entire life have I wanted anyone so much." He responds, his fingertips ghosting up her thighs. She pushes his hands away, glaring at him. He doesn't mind, though, because he knows she's already been trapped.

He's got her, hook line and sinker.

"Zack, stop it. Don't do this." She murmurs, trying to not look into his eyes. That hurts him, Pigeon, that you won't even look him in the eye while you try and turn him down.

"Pigeon, c'mon, stop it. You know you want this; want _me_. And I love you so much, why would you hurt me like this?" He whispers, pulling her close and tightening his hold on her; he never wants to let her go.

"Zack, don't! I can't, okay? It's not –_ oh_…."

He's already started kissing the soft skin of her neck, the warmth of her body fueling the fire in his soul. He can feel her heartbeat go faster, and he smirks into her silky skin. His lips go up, up to her jaw and he kisses both sides of her face, gently and lovingly as he continues to hold her close.

"Zack, my god, you need to – _mmm_…" She can't even form full sentences now, because he's rubbing circles in her hips with his thumbs and he's added his tongue to the mix on her neck.

Her skin tastes like ocean and fruit and _Pigeon_. The Pigeon he's fallen so deeply in love with it isn't even funny. And he just can't get enough.

"Stop talking. Stop talking, stop thinking, and just _feel_, Pigeon." He whispers, his lips just above hers. His eyes are closed now, his heart hammering wildly in his chest, and she does what he says.

And she kisses him.

And it's wonderful.

He's never felt so much energy, so much _passion_, than when she grinds her bare hips into his he whispers broken 'Iloveyou's and constantly chokes out her name.

Her name, her name, always her name. The only name he'll ever say, only name he'll ever cherish like it's the very air he breathes.

They collide, what could've been hours or days or weeks or months later, collapsing into the mattress and trying to regain themselves.

"I love you." He's the first to say it, because he's the one who had been saying it the entire time anyway.

"I love you, too." She says it back, leaning her body into him and trying to pull him endlessly closer.

And he pulls her tighter, fully intending on holding her forever.

.0

She wipes the tears from her eyes, packing the last things she needs to fly home. Did he think it would change anything, what they did? Did he think it would change her parent's minds? Did he think it would help her stand up to them?

Does he really think she's that strong?

"Hey, Gen. Just came to say goodbye."

She sighs, looking up at Bumpkin through her tired eyes. She hasn't slept a wink since that night, and she doubts she's ever gonna sleep well again.

"Bye, Bumpkin. You know, I'm gonna miss you and your farm-girl nerdiness. Don't ever be chic, okay? You're too good for that crap." She tells the girl with a smile. She hugs her tight, the other brunette promising to stay the same.

"I wish you didn't have to go. You're gonna miss graduation. And prom." Bumpkin sighs, too, trying not to cry.

"I know I am. But I bet you'll win queen. And you and Professor will be co-vales, and you'll both get into Yale and Curly will get that little girl of his, sweet Speedy, and you guys will get along just fine without me. You did it before, who's to say you can't do it again?" It's getting harder to talk for her, because her throat is tightening as she tries her hardest to blink away the tears behind her eyes.

"But that was because we had no idea you existed, Gen. You're too much to not miss, okay? Nobody is going to forget you. Especially Zack."

That piece of information stops Geni's heart for a split second. God, does he have to come up _every_ time she's away? Ugh.

And she was this close to forgetting him, too.

Yeah, that's a lie.

"Bumpkin, please. I'm done talking about him. I made a mistake, doing what he did with me, because he knew I was leaving. It was just plain stupid and you know it."

She's got an edge to her voice, because she's literally forcing herself to remain composed. It's not fair, really, to constantly be put on the spot for something like this. It isn't like she asked him to sleep with her. He just _did_.

"Say what you will, Gen, but he's absolutely busted up over it. You don't know what you did to him, not really." Bumpkin says, and that's when Geni snaps.

"I don't know? I _don't know?_ I don't know that I ripped his heart out? I don't know that I pretty much made it impossible for him to ever love again? I don't know that the night we shared was the best night of his life, because he finally felt _whole?_ Really, Bumpkin, I didn't know any of this? So tell me, what else _don't I know?"_

She's got tears on her cheeks and fire in her eyes. Everything is hazy and ohmygod, was she really holding all that in?

"How did you –"

"Jesus, do you think he's the only one in pain? Do you honestly think I'm not hurting, too? Because if you do, then you obviously don't know me." She sniffles, and Bumpkin just looks at her in apology.

She's going to vomit, oh lord. No more useless apologies, and wasted pities and broken hearts. She's going, and that's the end of it.

"Look, Gen –"

"Just go, okay? I've got to finish my packing. I leave in four hours." She says quickly, snapping at the girl when she doesn't leave.

Then she does. And Geni's alone.

.0

He can't let her leave. He just can't let her walk out of his life like that. Not after she stumbled in for a reason. Not after he's fallen so hard for her.

"Pigeon, Pigeon, wait!" He calls, but she doesn't turn around.

Oh, god, she's getting on the plane. He couldn't see her off. And as much as he likes to tell himself that no, he _isn't_ Matthew Mc-frigging-Conaughey, he runs after her. All the way to the boarding line. He almost makes it on the plane, too.

"Pigeon! Pigeon, I love you!"

He screams it so loud that she stops walking, but not once does she turn around to look at him. His heart breaks a little too hard, and he feels himself sinking. That it, he realizes, she isn't coming back.

His phone vibrates in his pocket, and he wonders who it could be. He pulls it out, and can't believe what he's seeing.

A new text message.

Pigeon's smile lighting up his phone.

Her name written across the screen.

**_I love you, too, okay? And I'm sorry. But I promise this isn't goodbye, Hero; it's just 'see you later'._**

**_PS – If you get this, don't text me back. Phone's gonna be taken away as soon as I land._**

**_XOXO Pigeon_**

His heart leaps, a plan formulating in his mind. He can't let her get away; he's got to bring her back. Bring her back, before she forgets him.

.0

"I can't believe you ratted me out, you evil little bitch." She sneers at her sister, sitting on her bed back home – no. She dares not call this place home, because Hero isn't here. And home is wherever he is.

Her sister looks positively smug, and it takes everything in the younger girl not to claw her smirk right off her ugly face. It would, after all, make her so happy. And she figures she won't be happy for a long time, so why not let her have one last shot at it?

"You're in no place to be calling names, you dirty liar. I can't believe you snuck off to some _boat_." Lou exclaims, and the younger girl wants nothing more than to strangle the blond.

"I could very easily kill you right now. And I would have no regrets what-so-ever." She says softly, in a calm voice, folding her hands on her knees and simply looking her sister in the eye.

"I hate you."

"Good, then. We're on the same page!" Lou screams, and Geni nods her head briskly, agreeing with that statement.

All hell must've frozen over, if she's agreeing with her sister of all people.

"Just get you of my room, demon. Mum and Dad are supposed to punish me." She says solemnly, as though one condemned. She may as well be, too – a life without her real family back on the boat is no life worth living anyway.

"Are you kidding me? I've been given permission to watch." Lou does her obnoxious nasally laugh, smirking wide and shameless. Geni just sits there, though, on her bed, waiting. Like it matters, anyway. In a few hours she'll be shipped off to Africa and she won't have to worry about any of this.

"Genevieve Maria Tate, we are both shocked and disappointed."

Geni rolls her eyes, a snarky remark about how oh, what a lovely range of emotions you're suddenly beginning to show, Mum, pressing against her lips. She bites her tongue, deciding it's best left unsaid.

Both her mother and father look so angry, but by now it doesn't even faze her. Why should it? She's always been the bad one, the one that everyone expects for trouble. That's something she and Hero have in common.

"Why? Because I decided I wanted to live my life for myself and not be controlled anymore? Because I don't think that grounds for disappointment." She snaps back, eyes ablaze all over again.

"Because you _lied_ to us! For _months!_ Do you have any idea how worried we were when we found out what you had been doing? Do you have any idea how completely _appalled_ we were to know you had been travelling the world without out consent?" Her father's voice raises, and she doesn't even flinch.

But god, she's feeling a sense at déjà vu – he hasn't yelled at her, nobody has, in so long; since she got on the boat, actually.

"I'm not sorry! For once in my life, I didn't need a surfboard to be okay! Because on that boat, I was actually _happy!_ On that boat, I could be anything I wanted to be and not what _you_ expected of me!

She has no idea where this is coming from, but she has no regrets saying it. She's finally telling her parents what's been on her tongue for years. Maybe now they'll finally understand.

"How dare you. We have done nothing but provide the best opportunities, and this is how you repay us?"

"You never listen to me! I'm not doing the things you want for me because they aren't what _I_ want! And yet, everything I want never seems to be good enough! Every time I find something I love, something that makes me feel happy, you ruin it! Because you can't seem to grasp the fact that I don't want to be like you!"

Her heart, what's left of it, it spilling over. She's finally telling them off. Finally, she's having her say. And damn, it feels so good.

"I don't want to live the way you've planned it for me. I want to have adventures and I don't want to be sheltered and I want to get out of here and I want to _live_.

"I want to see the entire world, know that it's in my hand. I want to marry the man of my dreams because I love him, not because of anything else. I want a career that makes me happy.

"I want to be able to wake up beside the man I love every day and kiss him good morning and go wake up my kids and get them ready for school and go off to work because _I want to_.

"I want a life worth living."

She doesn't know what else to say, if there's anything more that needs to be said. She doesn't think so.

Suddenly, her mind is full of dreams of she and Hero living that life, with little kids going off to school and them kissing each other goodbye as they leave for work in the morning, a lovely little house behind them and everything so perfect.

"I hope you've packed for Kenya. Your flight leaves tomorrow." Her mother says before she, Lou, and her father leave. They close the door behind them, and Geni screams.

In that scream, she lets out her heartache and her agony and her anger and all the emotions she's pent up for the last week.

It feels so good, to let off some steam, that she just collapses onto her mattress and sleeps.

.0

He looks at the plane before him, duffel bag in one hand and ticket in the other. It's her eighteenth birthday in a couple days, and he wants to be there for it, like she was for his. They haven't seen each other face to face since… He can't even remember. They've written letters back and forth, and shared very short, very scratchy, very wonderful phone calls. But he hasn't actually _seen_ her since she left.

That was five months ago.

"I'm finally gonna bring her home." He whispers in excitement, boarding the last flight to Kenya. He can't believe he's gonna do this: go to Kenya and bring Pigeon home on her eighteenth birthday so they can live happily ever after.

What's gotten into him?

'Love, silly,' A little voice in his head whispers to him, and he smiles as he settles down in his seat, ready to sleep – something he hasn't done in the last couple days.

He falls asleep dreaming of Pigeon and their happily ever after and how wonderful it's going to be when he gets to see her again. When this time, after he gets a hold of her, he won't let her go.

.0

She wants to cry. That's it, she wants to cry. It's been five whole months since she's seen them, and it feels like five million years.

She misses them all so much. Curly and Bumpkin and Professor and Speedy and Moseby and Tutweiler (who are engaged to be married, according to Hero's last letter) and _Hero_.

Ohmygod, she misses him more than anything in the world. She left a huge part of herself with him when she left, and she doesn't think she'll ever get it back as long as they're apart. She isn't happy, and she'll never _be_ happy, until she's with him again.

She can't believe she left him there, at the airport, like some kind of lost puppy. But she knew that if she had turned around, she wouldn't have boarded the plane; she would have run into his arms and stayed there forever. But she had to have come here, to Kenya, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have anything.

"Hey, Geni, we need your help bringing in the water." Someone calls, and she can't remember their name right now. All she can think about is how it's been so long since she's been called 'Pigeon' to her face, and she misses that. So, so much, she misses that.

Still, she does the work, and she doesn't even have pain in her shoulders anymore. She's lost quite a bit of weight in these months, trading it instead of muscle. And her hair has gotten lighter, thanks to her being in the sun so long. She might dye it black soon, though.

"Pigeon!"

She looks up, hearing the name ring through the air. She ignores it, though, thinking nothing of it. She's heard him call her name so many times; she believes it just another one of her daydreams.

"Pigeon, I'm here!"

He's right behind her, loud and clear, so she decides to turn around to prove it's not real – it can't be real.

He's here. Right in front of her.

_Here_.

The last thing she sees is his smiling face before she catches a glimpse of the blue sky and the world fades to black.

.0

He runs a hand though his hair, pacing in front of the doctor's tent. He hasn't been allowed in yet, because she isn't awake yet, and it's killing him.

He can't believe she fainted.

Granted, the surprise visit wasn't exactly the best option, but it's not like he expected that kind of a reaction from her. She looked at him, blue eyes wide as can be, and suddenly she was on the ground.

It frightened him beyond belief.

"She's awake. You can come in now." The doctor tells him, interrupting his thoughts and pacing. He enters the tent, nerves wracking his body.

There she is, sitting up in a cot, face in her hands and he can tell she's thinking because he can see that she's biting her lip and her hair is pushed from her face.

"Hey. What happened back there?" He asks, sitting on the floor beside her. She shakes her head, not looking up at him, which causes his heart to ache, until she talks.

"I had the weirdest hallucination. I saw Hero, and he was right there, smiling at me and calling me Pigeon like if it hasn't been five months and it's only been five minutes. It was like my dreams had finally come true. But that's all it could've been, though: a dream. He's in Boston, the high school graduate, and I'm here in Kenya, the girl who had to have her diploma mailed to her."

His heart swells to know she'd been dreaming of him. He can't believe she still misses him so much; she still loves him so much.

"Pigeon, it wasn't a dream. I really am here. I came to get you." He says, taking her hands, waiting for her to say something. Which, she doesn't. But what she does could never compare to what a thousand words would have done.

She yanks him forward and kisses him, kisses him _hard_. He kisses her just as fiercely, and ohmy_god_ he's missed this so much; missed _her_ so much that he can't believe he hadn't done this sooner.

"I love you, Pigeon. I love you so much. Come home with me? Live with me forever? I love you, you know." He murmurs, pulling away and looking directly into her eyes. God, he wants her to say yes. No, he _needs_ her to say yes.

He needs _her_ period. He won't ever be happy without her.

"Ohmygod, Hero. That's… Whoa. That's not something you get asked every day. I don't – I don't know what to say." She breathes, and he laughs.

"Say yes, Pigeon. Say you love me, too." He tells her, holding both her hands in his and kissing her forehead.

"Yes, stupid! Of course yes! I love you so much!" She exclaims, beaming at him, kissing him quickly.

Ohmygod. She's said yes. He doesn't know what to do.

Wait. Yes he does.

He kisses her again, pulling away nd taking a little box from his pocket.

"Pigeon, will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

**{FADE TO BLACK  
SHOW THE NAMES  
PLAY THE HAPPY SONG}**


End file.
